


Supernatural to Natural

by Dreamillusions



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: BUT FOR A REASON!!!!!, Curses, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone is a bit OOC, Fae & Fairies, Fantasy, Flashbacks, Friendship, Heartwarming, Nightmares, Oh My God, Potions Accident, References to Celtic Lore, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Slow Pace, Speech Disorders, Teasing, bloodlust!nagisa most of the time so i guess OOC nagisa?, but he'll get over them i promise!!, enjoy, i'll try to stick close to their character as much as possible, poor aguri, prankster god, references to japanese lore, turning to humans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-05-20 19:49:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 77,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6022621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamillusions/pseuds/Dreamillusions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nagisa is a snake. Kayano is a cursed fairy. Karma is a god. They meet one day when one of Karma's mischievous actions had caused a rift in reality and now all of them had gained human bodies and found themselves sprawled on top of each other in front of a house. surprised? Aguri too. don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does. enjoy and leave a review please!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Oops?

**Author's Note:**

> i know i said i will take a break from writing multi-chapter stories after the train wreck which was I am a snake... but when i was at the base, i needed so desperately to write something i was going nuts and i couldn't manage to continue the other fics so after a very vigorous and pained write and erase process, i started writing this, which feels sometimes like taking out a sword stabbed into my chest.
> 
> so anyways, this story, as i promised myself, will be anything but tragedy (and romance, i am terrible with romance). this will be simply a very slow and heartwarming story of three creatures trying to adapt to humanity featuring the rest of class 3-E as either students or adults.
> 
> complete AU where Yukimura doesn't work as an assistant, no experiment on GoD so no korosensei. we'll see if GoD, Karasuma and Irina will be part of the story since i only wrote five chapters up until now (had to shorten this chapter since it was over 5k words. too much, oops.).
> 
> please support me and i hope you'll enjoy this story as much as the previous fic did. it will not be the masterpiece i somehow managed to write (believe me, i have no idea how i did it, too) but i hope it'll be great and that you'll love it.
> 
> shoutout for the one who helps me so greatly, Griewer. check out his stories in ff.net
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei dows
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^

"Boring~" He whined as he splayed over his chair, tail flicking the air lazily, the armrest digging uncomfortably into his legs and arms so he twirled his hand and the chair turned into a couch and he sighed in relief; why did he even own chairs? They were uncomfortable and it's not like any formal guests come over anyway. Maybe he should disappear for several decades in some human village, see how long it takes them to realize the culprit of their every misfortune. Or maybe find some ogres and beat them up. He heard that the new king of the barbarian tribe is attacking anything in his way while heading south to the newest troll tribe.

But that would mean getting up from this very comfortable couch… oh well, he can always ask the local witch for some potions and have fun with them.

He spread his hand and blew on it, small horns appearing from thin air and giving small hooting sounds before sprouting wings and flying out of the window. Now he only needs to wait…

"Y-you called?" The local witch popped moments later in his room, long black hair in braids and eyes hidden behind round spectacles. He smirked at her and she squeaked, "I-I'm not giving you any potions! Last time I was chased out of town!"

"Aww~" He pouted, "I just want a body changing potion~ I still need to punish those buffoons for ganging up on you."

She instantly shook her head, sweating with panic. "D-don't do it, please! J-just stop those pranks!"

He gave her a strange look. "I'm the god of mischief, woman; I'm _supposed_ to be a prankster. Besides, it's boring."

She took a step back and he sighed. "Also, stop being so terrified of me. I'm not going to harm you. How long have we known each other?"

"T-two centuries?" She responded after a moment, shoulders slightly hunching as she strode towards him. Little leprechauns jumped out of her dress and started knitting a pillow in a rapid pace; finishing it just as she reached him and laid it on the floor, which she sat on it awkwardly, thanking the little creatures as they jumped back into the black folds of her garb. He chuckled at that and flopped next to her, smirking as she drew her knees to her chest as if to hide from him. On the other hand, it could be because of his tail poking at her stomach.

"So what have you got for me?" He inquired animatedly and she slowly uncurled, eyeing him guardedly while taking out a small scroll and handing it to him.

"You'll need to do it after the summer solstice and by the sea since the waves always change the shape of the earth," Her voice gained a bit of confidence speaking over the subject of her beloved potions. He smiled at her enthusiasm and reclined back on the big cushion he popped into existence, having a brief daydream where the whole Goblin pack he had his eye on for a while turned to elves and start beating each other up. Now that would be hysterical and all he would need to do is grab some corn seeds and watch the show unfold before him.

Soon after, he bid the witch goodbye and eyed the potion in his hand, moping over the fact that he will have to wait a whole month before he can actually make any good use of that. He sighed and returned to his couch, bored out of his mind; maybe he should follow up on his idea to terrorize a village of humans. Lately, the largest gathering of them started preparing for a siege despite no enemy group was spotted on sight.

Oh well, humans are humans. Can't do much about them.

But still… it's so boring!

* * *

_A month later…_

Finally it's here! He nearly killed another fox that trespassed into his domain by how dreary it was. But at last, he can actually do the ritual and be done with it. And then the fun will begin.

He smirked as he stood on the beach, waiting for the sun to set so he could pour the potion over the cauldron filled with different herbs and firewood.

The sunlight was blindingly red and he immediately dumped the contents onto the pile of rubbish and stepped back when fire erupted, eating everything in the cauldron in red and blue flames.

But then the flames turned green and he tilted his head in confusion – the witch didn't say anything about green flames… did he mess up?

Oh, for Odin's sake, don't steal his fun just because of a mishap. What should he do? Well, first he should stop the ritual in case something really disastrous will happen. That would be a pain to fix.

He twirled his hand and a gallon of water appeared in it, which he generously dumped over the fire.

It was a terrible mistake.

The flames rose even higher and turned to a bright turquoise, highlighted red by the setting sun. He took several steps back and raised his hands, a big stone falling over the cauldron. It was silent for a moment and he dared to release a relieved chuckle.

Then the rock exploded and he had to form another stone barrier against the shooting pebbles, cursing to himself as he saw trees and plants being destroyed, and the ground being littered with small craters.

It's not like he is going to die from simple rocks, but he wasn't keen on washing his clothes from blood later so he decided to simply protect himself to prevent it. Seriously, this is too troublesome. But at least it isn't boring, he mused to himself. Finally some appreciated action; it had been too dull lately. He shrugged and wished away the barrier, blinking at the obliterated beach and the strange purple fog, which formed over the remains of the cauldron.

Interesting… he sent a small pebble at it. Nothing happened. He narrowed his eyes, tail twitching in wariness. He decided to simply contain it in a vial and send it to the witch and materialized a big wall of glass, which he slowly mended it around the fog—

The fog seeped through the glass and it seemed to get closer to him. He clicked his tongue and changed the glass to iron but it had the same affect as the glass.

Now the fog was ten meters away from him and he decided to screw it and get away from this thing. But then the fog was upon him and everything was washed with red. An explosion was heard and he was yanked into the fog.

* * *

It, who was basking in the setting sun, looked up when it felt the air shift around it. Scale-framed eyes looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the disturbance.

Everything remained quiet but it knew it felt something change around it. It slithered off the boulder and hid in its shadow.

Then everything exploded and he was yanked into a hole, which suddenly formed under its form. He flailed to no avail as blue washed everything.

* * *

She was nursing her injuries on her tree's branch, crystal tears dropping from her eyes as she remembered the fear in the chief's eyes as she came close to the village.

It was not her fault. She did not want to do it yet they pushed and pushed until she complied and now look at the results – alone and cursed.

The branch under her cracked and she jolted, flying off it immediately in surprise and looking back at it. How could it crack so suddenly? She was not heavy at all and no living being sat on it with her.

A screech made her look back just as big wings flapped down, sending her to the ground. She shouted in fear as the ground skidded closer to her in a frightening speed. She tried flipping her wings only to realize that she cannot stop her descent. She squeezed her eyes tight and curled into a small ball, hoping that it would not hurt too badly.

Is this how she dies?

Then something yanked her even faster down and she opened her eyes to see a big hole devouring her.

An explosion of green welcomed her.

* * *

.

.

.

.

Thud.

"Ow!"

Thud.

"Oof."

Thud.

"Hya!"

A pack of birds flew out of the trees around with loud screeches and shrieks.

A dead silence followed.

"What the hell?" The one at the bottom of the pile cursed, though it was muffled since their face was squashed onto the ground. A hiss was heard above, accompanied by a high-pitched apology.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to fall on you two! A strange hole just yanked me—"

"Shut up," The first voice growled, face raised inches from the ground now, "Just get off of me."

"Oh right." Shuffles were heard and soon the one at the bottom was left with one problem; the hissing one still sprawled on top of him.

"Hey, you too," They raised themselves onto their elbows and sent a glare to the one on top of them, "Get off."

A confused hiss. They sighed and simply threw the other to the ground, having to roll away from an enraged lunge.

"What the hell is your problem?" They stood up, wavering since something that usually kept their balance was lost. They froze and looked behind them. "What happened to my tail!?" They touched their hair, "And my horns!? My precious horns!"

"Now that you mention it," The owner of the high-pitched voice looked at them, "My wings are gone and I'm bigger than I should be. Usually no one notice if I crash into them since I'm so small."

The hissing one tilted their head and slowly looked over themselves, a baffled hiss leaving their mouth.

"Oy, speak normally," The first one grumbled, "You seem human enough to do that."

"Human? Is that what we are now?" The high-pitched owner pondered. "That sucks."

"You are telling me? I worked for centuries to annoy those mud-splashers; I am not in the mood to become one of them. Though it perhaps means that the potion worked…"

"Potion? What's that?"

An annoyed hiss and the two turned to the last of them, which was still lying on the ground, long thin limbs flailing everywhere. The two of them laughed and helped the third up to their legs and then supporting them when they stumbled.

"Seriously, it's like you never had limbs in your life…" The hissing one froze and then shook their heads, "You never had limbs?" A nod. "Well, that sucks."

"Wait, how does it even understand us if it only hisses?" A shrug. "You understand us though." A nod. "Okay… do the two of you even have names?"

One nod and one shake of the head. "I see… well, my—"

"What is all that noise—oh my!" Three pairs of eyes looked up in surprise to meet black eyes. "Are you three alright? And why are you naked?"

Through their minds passed the same thought.

_A human can see us?!_

* * *

Aguri could confidently say that she did not scream when she walked out of the door to see three children standing in front of her house, stark snaked. Though, to be honest, it wasn't the first thing she noticed about their appearances.

Seriously, did they dye their hair or so something? The tallest of them had bright red hair. The shortest had long wavy forest green hair, and the one who seemed to lean on the former had shoulder-length blue hair.

Then she met their eyes. Dull gold, bright hazel, and hostile blue.

Such strange kids. Nevertheless, the most important thing is to give them clothes. The police could come at any moment and arrest them for indecency.

She beckoned them to enter her house, smiling kindly at them and giving away nothing of her awe and curiosity. Slowly, the tallest of them seemed to snap out of whatever trance they were in and dragged the blue head callously with him with the green head rushing after them with a slight skip.

After herding them to her living room, she told them to wait and rushed to get some clothes for them, wondering if she should give them dresses or simple shirts and pants.

Fortunately, she found three big shirts and one pair of pants who would fit the tallest kid.

"Here you go!" She exclaimed happily as she returned, finding the three of them still in the same spot as she left them and she chuckled. "You can sit down on the couch you know."

"Th-thank you for your hospitality…" The green head murmured, blushing slightly as they scuttled timidly to the couch, the bluehead somehow ending up on the other the two's laps. The redhead seemed a bit aggravated by the action while the greenhead simply giggled at the bluehead's antics. She clasped a hand over her mouth to muffle the chuckles leaving her lips. They are so adorable, well, except for the fact that they are completely bare. And with no apparent discomfort over the fact.

"Here you go," She showed them her findings and immediately was presented with wrinkled noses. "What?"

"No… nothing," The redhead sighed pushed the bluehead off, rolling eyes at the hiss and took the biggest shirt and the pants, pulling it over their form. They did not quite fit, being slightly bigger than the kid's build, but that will have to suffice for now.

The greenhead followed soon after with pursed lips and the second shirt was pulled on, covering slim thighs.

"Come on, limbless, time to wear some clothes," Redhead cooed teasingly at the bluehead but only received a hiss in reply.

"Can't you speak?" She asked kindly and blue eyes widened before the bluehead shook their head furiously, letting out another hiss. "Do you hate me?"

"Oh, don't worry about this kid," Redhead seemed to regain composure after wearing some clothes, "Apparently didn't have limbs before all of this happened. Could confuse anyone, honestly."

She smiled a bit amusingly at the obvious lie. "People don't just grow limbs out of nowhere… uh…"

"Oh, our names?" She nodded. "We haven't even properly introduced ourselves before you came so beats me."

"Well, we can just do it now, no?" Greenhead smiled sweetly, seating back on the couch and poking the still bare bluehead until they moved to sit by the couch. Aguri nodded and took a seat as well.

"Well, my name is Aguri Yukimura, twenty-seven, and a teacher," She started and immediately received two confused stares.

Greenhead looked at redhead. "You seem to know what it is."

"Well of course, since I was _actually_ around humans before. It's a person teaching younger people how to survive in the world. Like a mentor, if you will."

"Oh~" Greenhead whistled in awe and Aguri giggled with a small blush.

"It's not exactly that, but that's the gist of it, yeah."

"Me next then! My name is Green Flower and I'm two hundred-forty-three, female and a fairy~" The greenhead said cheerily and Aguri blinked.

"Are you sure it's your name?" She asked the little girl who was nearly vibrating in her seat. She received a nod. "Also sweetie, fairies don't exist."

"Of course they do, silly," She waved her hand dismissively at Aguri, "You humans just can't see us normally. For some reason this idiot here," She pointed at the redhead, who simply smirked and waved playfully, "did something to make me lose my wings and grow bigger and that's why you can see me."

Aguri decided to play along. Maybe they're mental house runaways? "But I can't call you Green Flower. Do you have any other names?"

She got a negative. "Then how about I give you a human name?" Green Flower perked at that and nodded excitedly. "Hmmm… there is this famous actress named Kaede… how about Kaede?"

"Sounds pretty."

"Okay, then that's settled. Now who's next?"

"I'll do it," Redhead shrugged after a moment of fidgeting from the bluehead, "Name's Karma since I am the one to prank beings that harm others, Loki's lesser known son, I'm really old so don't remember the exact number, male and a god of mischief."

Oh dear, they are becoming more obnoxious… first a fairy and now a god? What's next, superman?

"That's nice…" She couldn't keep all of her disbelief out of her voice and he gave her a knowing look then turned to the silent bluehead and nudged him at the head with his foot.

"Oy, it's your turn, limbless."

He got a hiss and bluehead bared sharp protruded fangs, snapping at the foot, which managed to retreat in time. Aguri was immediately on her feet and approached the smaller form, disapprovingly waving a finger in front of him.

"That wasn't nice of you. Now apologize to Karma," She said sternly only to receive a baffled face. "Why are you confused? You shouldn't be attacking your friends like that."

"Friends, huh?" Karma snorted, "Lady, this brat probably doesn't know what apologizing is. First things first, it needs to talk."

She gave him the look as well. "Hey, we don't even know its gender. It looks female enough though… but it does have male parts…"

A miffed hiss and bluehead lunged forward, Karma laughed as he raised his feet to the couch and flipped over the backrest to its backside. Aguri had to grab the bluehead's shoulders since they still weren't wearing any clothes and pulled him away, berating the still laughing redhead.

"He's acting like a small animal, Aguri," Kaede said amusingly, "Do you think that's what he was before we came here?"

Karma popped from the back of the couch, placing his elbows on the backrest, grinning widely. "Well, it understands us so we can just ask it, no? Hey, limbless, were you an animal before coming here?"

A nod.

"See?" Kaede exclaimed animatedly, "I talked to so many animals and they all acted like this. They don't like it when someone touches them so hastily so be careful next time, Karma."

This is getting a bit too confusing and overwhelming. "Did you three know each other before?"

"Nope. We all found ourselves in a pile after having a hole yank us into it," Kaede said happily.

Aguri sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Look. I'm glad to see that you three have such a wild imagination, but this is getting ridiculous and I still need to phone your parents so you could get home. I won't tell them about your indecency but—"

"I knew it," She startled at the redhead's sudden disappointed tone, "What can we do to make you believe us? I would show you my powers, but ever since arriving here I have been having difficulties remembering the essence of things so… hey, greenie, what kind of abilities did you have other than flying?"

"Well, I…" Suddenly the girl seemed depressed, "I was cursed just before coming so everything I touched… wilted away."

"But they were touching you perfectly before," Aguri said hesitantly and hazel eyes perked up and she quickly touched Karma's shoulder, laughing in relief when all the other did was smack her head.

"So when we turned human we lost our abilities…" Karma said a bit annoyingly, "So what could we do…"

"Well, what about small animal here?" Kaede pointed ruffled the blue hair, whose owner was dozing between her feet. Aguri's cheeks heated a bit at the indecent position but did not comment since Kaede didn't seem bothered by it.

"Well, it's getting quite late so how about staying over tonight and then I'll see about getting you back home tomorrow, okay?" The two exchanged looks and nodded, chuckling to themselves.

Oh, well, it could have gone much worse, Aguri concluded to herself. She'll just have to break through their fantasies and find their true identities…

Can't be too difficult, right?

She got a bad feeling about this...


	2. Morning and Shenanigans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Sigh* so as peolpe who read the author's chapter in ff.net before i erased it know, some scary stuff happened back home and... my story got erased - 90 pages of a very dear story which grew on me despite starting from a strained effort to get ideas for stories.
> 
> things are... better, i guess? but i am depressed, anxious and don't eat much so when i got my new computer last week (which is a nightmare to use) and sat down to rewrite the story, i broke down, i couldn't do it, i was about to throw this to the garbage because i couldn't do it. but my savior, griewer gave me an outlet and manage to coax me to give this story another chance.
> 
> so... the next seven chapters - or at least until the point of the erasure - are going to be sporadic and a bit hesitant since i am still afraid and terrified of the story not being the same as i wrote it before. i also decided that the minute i finish a chapter, i'll upload it so i hope it won't take much longer.
> 
> don't worry, i am safe, still alive, but quite empty now... don't worry, not gonna off myself or something like that... still have to rewrite this shit...
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please comment and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. shit, the manga is ending this week... WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? HOW WILL I LIVE WITHOUT NAGISA? wait... I'M GOING TO SEE OLDER NAGISA! I CAN'T BREATH! *faints*

 " _Now, say it with me... 'Ah…'_ " Was what Aguri heard when she opened the door the next morning, seeing Kaede sitting on bed with bluehead, thankfully clothed now, curled by her side, her finger twirling along with her voice, and is she going mad or did it seem like it was glowing…? She shook her head and leaned on the wall, waiting for them notice her.

"Ah~" Kaede said and Nagisa opened his mouth, trying to copy the girl's mouth movements, only for small hissing noises ending in whines to come out.

"Try again," Kaede didn't seem deterred. Bluehead hissed and tried again only to notice the woman and tilt his head at her, making Kaede look back as well.

"Oh, good morning, Aguri," She greeted her with a big smile, noticing her curiosity, "I'm just trying to teach him to talk since all he does is hiss."

"Good morning, Kaede, and that's a great idea… 'He?'"

"Yes, we had found out last night that he is actually a male snake, which explains his reaction to Karma's teasing."

"I see," Aguri smiled and closed the door behind her, coming to the bed when she remembered and stopped, "Oh, right, I almost forgot. My neighbor gave me this morning a very nice idea for a name. She told me it fits both genders so it's still good."

"Really? What name is it?"

"Nagisa."

"That's a really nice name. What do you think of it, Nagisa?" Kaede turned to the newly named blunet and ruffled his hair, said boy shrugging, giving a soft hiss. Aguri chuckled as she sat on the bed looked around, noticing someone missing...

"Where is Karma?" She received a chuckle as an answer and quirked up a brow. Kaede giggled and pointed to a lump behind Nagisa which suspiciously seemed like a…

"Karma?" She asked the lump, which grunted and the blanket moved so annoyed golden eyes peered out of it.

"What?"

"Good morning to you too, mister," She answered in amusement, "Want to leave the bed anytime soon?"

"No." The blanket covered the gold eyes and Aguri sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't know, was grumbling all morning," Kaede shrugged and Nagisa moved so he was facing the lump and poked it. The blanket moved again so Karma could glower at the blunet.

"Would you stop it?" Nagisa blinked and decided to simply poke the lump again. Kaede laughed and grabbed the brown material, pulling it away from the redhead's body, which started shaking from the sudden cold breeze.

"Hey!"

"Nagisa is so kind to wake you up, the least you could do is get up," Kaede grinned and Karma growled, rising onto his knees, "It's not as if you can't walk."

He wavered and fell on his face.

"Don't tell me… you can't?" Kaede's eyes widened for a long moment and then she started laughing, ignoring the heated look and just focusing on the reddening cheeks. "Oh, god you can't!"

"Shut up! Of course I can't!"

"Why not, Karma?" Aguri interrupted the bantering, hand covering her smiling mouth. Karma turned his glare to her, then mumbled something about missing tails and balance. "I couldn't hear you."

"I don't have my fucking tail and horns, OF COURSE I won't be able to move!" Karma shouted.

"Language, Karma," She reprimanded him, "And even if you lost your tail and horns, that's no reason to stay in bed."

"She's right, Karma," Kaede piped in, grinning widely, "You'll just have to get back your balance. Look at Nagisa, he didn't even have limbs before coming here and he is not whining about that. So why stay in bed?"

"Well, I was comfortable before _someone_ decided to ruin it."

"Oh, hush and get up, we should get up for breakfast anyways," Kaede shrugged and stood up. Nagisa tried to get up from his position by the lump only to stumble on his lack of balance and tumble backwards, falling from the bed and dragging the redhead along with him.

"What th-?" Karma yelled as they ended in a pile on the floor, the girls erupting in laughter at their expanse. He disentangled himself from the other and growled. "What the hell was that for!?"

Nagisa didn't answer, grabbing the bed and his shirt to hoist himself up only to somehow end up on his front. Karma gritted his teeth and pushed the other's face with his feet only to roll away from a lunge.

"Okay, stop it you two," Aguri stepped between the two, the image of the women towering over the sprawled boys quite comical, "I need to start preparing breakfast so the two of you will behave while I'm not here, understand?"

"Whatever…" Seemingly satisfied with the answer, the woman left the room, telling them to hurry and get going.

Kaede watched her leave then turned back to the duo on the floor, face suddenly sullen, "What are we going to do now?"

Karma gave her the stink eye and managed to sit up, wavering a bit but managing to stay on his feet. She smiled a bit forlornly. "It's funny. We fairies have pretty big wings and we can feel many things with them, but I guess we never used them for balance so I barely notice their absence."

"Lucky bitch…" Karma murmured and she grinned at him, "Besides, what can we do? We're powerless here and I am guessing that it's not our time or place since I never knew of this human housing and Aguri's language is different than mine."

"Well, it's pretty strange we understand her and each other despite coming from such different places…" She mused a bit over it then sighed and smiled, "Well, nothing much that we can about it now. Aren't you guys hungry or something? I'm starving! Come on, save questions for after breakfast!" She jumped to her feet and helped Nagisa to his feet then reached for Karma, who growled and pulled himself up only to stumble for a moment and clutch the wall for stability.

"You can ask for help, you know…" She said, then reconsidered it when he snarled at her, "Well, if you can walk, can you keep walking behind us in case Nagisa stumbles. He can't really straighten himself up," She gestured to the blunet who was hissing in frustration while leaning over her shoulder, legs quivering.

"Fine."

* * *

They were walking down the hall, Nagisa hissing from the strain while Karma braced one hand on the wall, steps a bit more confident now despite his complaints.

"Oh, shush now, grumpy," Kaede chirped, stumbling a bit from Nagisa's clumsiness, "You're doing a good job so be a big boy and quiet down for now."

"You sound like one of those annoying godsitters…" Karma huffed, "Always nagging the new gods to stop whining and to eat their celestial shit and stuff like that."

"Well, you seem to know them quite well," Hazel eyes narrowed playfully at him, the girl turning around and shouting in triumph at the sight of the table, ignoring the deadly glare. Kaede gently lowered Nagisa to the chair, the blunet hissing in relief and resting his head on the table, falling asleep right away.

"How can he fall asleep so quickly?" Karma rolled her eyes and sat across from him, folding his arms behind his head, "And where is Aguri?"

"I wonder sometimes if you are just trying to get on our nerves," Kaede murmured, sitting next to Nagisa and patting the blue hair, waking the blunet up. Karma opened his mouth to say something when Aguri entered the room with a metal shallow uncovered pot filled with eggs and strips of bacon. Karma's and Kaede's eyes brightened up, Nagisa's still groggy.

"You know, even if you're guests, I wouldn't have minded if you would have helped set the table," Aguri eyed them in a way that said that it wasn't a request. Karma and Kaede eyed each other and stood up, the greenette gently coaxing Nagisa to get up as well, which failed terribly since the boy collapsed back to the chair, legs trembling and the boy hissing in pain.

At the end, Karma and Kaede were the ones to follow Aguri's instructions and place four plates, utensils and cups. The woman nodded in satisfaction and the trio sat down, the food immediately distributed between the four. Karma ate normally while Kaede fumbled a bit at the use of the fork, admitting that back at the village, they would eat with their hands.

Nagisa… well, Aguri had to show him step by step how to use each utensil and explain to him why he couldn't fall asleep on the plate, earning amused cackles from the redhead. It was messy and not once did the woman had to brush oil off the long blue hair. If only it was held back…

Aguri straightened up, earning the attention of Kaede and Karma as she rushed out of the living room in the direction.

"Wonder what happened?" Kaede wondered, quieting down when a loud cheer was heard and soon the black haired woman returned with several circular bands. The duo watched curiously as she sat behind Nagisa and pulled the hair back, securing it in place with one of the bands.

"I found them in my jewelry box in one of my drawers," Aguri said victoriously, "I don't use them since I always keep my hair short so I'm really glad that I remembered where I put them."

The blue hair was now in a low ponytail and Kaede was looking at it with a frown. Aguri slowly noticed the look and blinked in question, wondering if her work didn't satisfy the girl.

"Kaede?"

"Can I… can I restyle his hair?" The greenette asked timidly, almost hopefully. Aguri nodded, wondering what is going on, jumping when Kaede whooped in joy and took another band from her hand, undoing the ponytail, brushing her fingers in the blue locks, parting them and slowly bringing them to two high ponytails, Nagisa barely even twitching at her actions. Aguri clapped in appreciation when the girl finished while Karma just snorted and looked away, annoyed at the scene. Kaede grinned happily and asked the woman to style her hair the same.

Soon, the ponytailed duo was admired by the woman.

Aguri took in the now ponytailed blunet and greenette and suddenly it hit her how… human they looked. Just now she realized how… animalistic the boy and untamed the girl looked – wild loose hair, predatory glare, hisses with him and long rippling hair like water, unrestricted bright eyes, light steps with her – now they just looked like normal kids getting ready to school…

School!

A quick glance to the clock shows her that she still has half an hour and a loud breath of relief was exhaled from her mouth. She gave a smile to the trio and stood up.

"We need to get ready to school so how about I get Kaede and Nagisa bottoms and shirts for the three of you? Just stay here for the moment and I'll be right back," The woman rushed for the second time this morning to the rooms, leaving the trio behind.

"Is it going to be a recurring thing?" Karma asked. Kaede shrugged. Nagisa yawned. "Well, we'll probably will need some shoes so I'm going to look for some."

His brow rasied up in the look of distaste appearing on the greenette's face. "What?"

"I'm going to move him to the couch," Kaede said in return and helped Nagisa to his feet and they slowly walked to the couch, Nagisa swaying a bit and hissing from the strain, not liking it one bit. Karma stayed at the table, eyes glued to the remains of the meal. After a moment, he stood up and collected the plates and utensils and deposited them on the counter, wondering if the woman has a cleaning bucket.

Whatever, less work for him, the better.

Now… where can he find some decent shoes?

* * *

Kaede sat on the couch, Nagisa almost instantly curling next to her legs and falling asleep, legs still wobbly and twitching every so often. She smiled softly and brushed her fingers in his tied hair, feeling a bit closer to him now with their matching hairstyles. She fingered her hair, eyes dimming a bit when a flash of red splattered green flashed before her. But she didn't have long to dwell on it since a gray curtain appeared in her sight.

A gray curtain?

"This is your skirt," Aguri said and Kaede looked at the strange skirt. Firstly, it's gray. Secondly, it's gray!

"What is it made of?" She asked suspiciously, "And why is it _gray_?"

"Oh, this is cotton and it was dyed gray." Her eyes widened and all suspicion flew away. This is harmless. She stood up and took the skirt, attempting to wrap it around her stomach, furrowing her brows when it stopped in the middle. She tugged at it, growing more frustrated with it until Aguri chuckled and took the skirt, showing the girl the hole in the middle.

Her cheeks burned as she finally secured the skirt around her hips and changed her shirt to a plain white. She turned to wake Nagisa up but his peaceful face seemed really content and she felt a bit hesitant to break it.

"Do you think we should just let him sleep? He seems pretty exhausted and he can't really walk properly yet… not to talk about speaking..." Kaede asked the woman and after a moment of consideration, Aguri had to agree with her.

"Sure. From the looks of it he'll probably sleep the rest of the day so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Do you seriously not own _one_ set of good footwear? All I found were heels and some strange flat-heeled ones." The two turned to the redhead, who was holding a pair of pretty beaten up closed shoes. Kaede studied them in disgust while Aguri chuckled.

"Sorry, but I didn't wear those sneakers for a long time and my boss wants me to wear heels," Aguri apologized, "But thank you for reminding me to get you three some shoes. But now the only thing I have to give to Kaede is some flipflops…"

One hazel eye twitched.

"Flip-flops?"

* * *

"Well, they sure are… 'floppy'," Kaede scrutinized the strange… flippery things. Just a layer of… hard foam? And harder material where the foot should rest on. It looks disgusting.

"Do I really have to wear them?"

"Yes."

She put them on.

They feel disgusting.

"No wonder the males hate putting on shoes…" She grumbled, paying no attention to Karma's shit-eating grin. Their helper looked at her in worry so she just explained that she had never worn shoes before.

The woman's worry deepened. "Why not?"

"Well, the females' feet are hardened so there is no need. The males are the ones with soft feet, so they must wear the footwear to protect their feet."

"I…" Aguri seemed apprehensive, "never thought it would be the males to wear shoes…"

Kaede gave her a strange look. "Well, we females are the ones taking care of the fledglings and scour for food, so we need to walk a lot and get into hard places so having no shoes is better for us. The males are scouting for potential danger and meat and they need to use their wings so their legs are less exposed."

"That's pretty interesting," Aguri said after a moment. Kaede grinned.

"Does that mean I can walk barefoot, then?"

"No."

"Eh? Why?" Black eyes glanced into hazel in amusement.

"Well, if someone sees you barefoot, they'll think that you're homeless and will take you away from here and you don't want that, right?"

Kaede nodded sullenly. "Don't worry, if you really want, you can take them off at school okay?"

"Yay~`" The girl cheered.

"Now that we're done with the drama, can we move on?" Karma stopped their conversation and the woman took a look at the clock.

They have five minutes. Time to leave. She herded the two out and after giving Nagisa one last look, returning to place a blanket over the sleeping form and putting a note on the table – which in hindsight, she should have known that it was foolish – closed and locked the door, following the two.

* * *

The two were frozen in their places when she reached them, bodies tense and eyes wide. A bit alarmed, she turned to see the cause of their reaction and saw…

A white car.

"Why are you giving my car such odd looks?" She asked the two, who jerked and took a step back. "Kaede? Karma?"

"What is this monstrosity…?" Karma growled, either not noticing or too in distress to care that he was standing in front of his shorter companion, almost as if shielding her. Aguri gave them a long gaze, as if to check if they are being serious before releasing a loud bark of laughter, causing the two to look at her, wondering if the monstrosity had broken their helper.

"Oh, I never thought you had never seen a car before," Aguri finally said after calming down, "This is what we call a 'vehicle' or in this case 'car' would suffice. This is a means of transportation, faster than human's legs that's for sure," She said reassuringly to the two, "How about I'll explain this further after we get inside since we are on a rather tight schedule now."

Kaede's hand gripped Karma's in an almost crushing grip, but the soothing tone in the woman's voice and the knowledge that she doesn't want to harm them were the deciding factors for their trust in her words and compliance. They watched as she opened a side hatch and invited them to enter. Exchanging quick looks, they nodded and Kaede shuffled inside first, winching a bit at the cold bite of the gray surface – so much gray – as she moved the other side, tensing up then relaxing when Karma entered as well, sitting on the gray surface – a welcomed color in the sea of gray – and following Aguri's instructions on something that looked like a leather strap and a metal buckle. Karma inserted the buckle into a black container then showed Kaede the ropes as well. It seems that it is a safety requirement, though why the need arises is a mystery she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Finally, the woman entered the front row of the strange chairs, looking at them with a slight guilty look. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to drive a bit faster than usual since we are running late. Okay? Just hold tight."

They didn't get a chance to ask her for her cryptic words since soon the 'car' started shaking and a strange noise started. Kaede and Karma gulped, hands reaching for their straps—

The vehicle bolted forward and a scream was ripped out of them, swallowed by the car's noise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	3. Bonus Chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so... remember when i said i will update when i finish a chapter...? the thing is... uh... i finished one the day after posting the second chapter... but since griewer didn't go over it yet, i decided not to post it yet and now the fourth chapter had been written. it's really different now and many comedy moments had been lost to the erasure so i tried incorporating them to this little bonus chapter.
> 
> yep, you read this right, a bonus chapter.
> 
> while i wrote the fourth chapter i realized that i forget to mention something so i just wrote this bonus chapter to explain what happened to clear confusion, okay?
> 
> enjoy^^
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. shit, the manga ended... WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? HOW WILL I LIVE WITHOUT NAGISA? OLDER NAGISA WAS SO ADROABLE THOUGH! ESPECIALLY THAT BLOODLUST MOMENT AND HIS SHORT HAIR!

_First night:_

"Uh… Aguri?" Said woman turned to the green haired girl who stood at the door to her room, clearly in distress.

"What's wrong, Kaede?" Aguri stood up in alarm, walking over to the girl. Kaede smiled and grimaced, holding her stomach, "Is your stomach hurting?"

"Well, yes, a bit…" Kaede admitted, "I've been holding for a while after all."

"Holding? Kaede, you need to come and talk to me about those things right away. You can't just let it go untreated," Aguri scolded the girl, "Now, is it only your stomach that hurts?"

"Yes," The greenette gave her a look, "Is it supposed to hurt somewhere else?"

"…" Aguri blinked and narrowed her eyes at where the girl was clutching her stomach… it was looking more like a… "Kaede… do you need to go to the bathroom?"

"I don't need to take a bath, besides I didn't see any springs around here," Kaede grumbled, grimacing as she moved, "So no, I don't need the bath... you seriously have a room for a bath? How did you manage that?"

"Kaede, a bathroom is where you… pee…" Aguri sighed and Kaede 'oh'ed then nodded.

"Then I need this 'bathroom'. I didn't see a place outside where I could drain myself alone so I held back, hoping you'll tell someway."

"You could have just asked," Aguri chuckled and stood up, walking past the girl and to the hall, stopping before a third door and opening it, showing the interior to the baffled girl.

"Uh… Aguri, what in heaven's name am I looking at?"

"A bathroom," Aguri simply said and went quickly over the contents of the room – mainly the bath, sink, shelves and then the toilet, "Just sit here and let it all out."

"Thank you…" Kaede eyed the toilet a bit suspiciously but strode to it, raised her shirt and sat down, her face morphing to a face of relief and almost bliss, "Oh, that feels good, this human body is really annoying… we fairies only need to drain ourselves once a week, not a day—"

"More than once a day, Kaede, it's not healthy to hold it in," Aguri chastised the girl, feeling a bit embarrassed of being in the same room of a teenager as she did her stuff.

"—more than once a day," Kaede rolled her eyes, "I still stand by my point."

"Well, at least now you know where to do your stuff," Aguri smiled, both girls jumping when a roar was heard from the guest room.

"Aguri, this bastard just peed in the bed, I need new sheets." Karma slammed the door open, glaring at Aguri, not noticing the glowing bright red woman and facepalming girl.

"Karma! You don't enter a bathroom when someone is using it!" Aguri nearly screeched while Kaede shook her head at the other's antics.

"You are not bathing, what are you talking about?" Karma growled, leaning on the door frame as he lost balance, "Never mind that, limbless just peed on the bed and they don't even have the decency to look ashamed!"

"Karma, they're a snake, of course they're not going to think any better of that," Kaede sighed, ripping some of the toilet paper Aguri pointed out before and cleaned herself before standing up, "Besides, it's not proper for anyone to interrupt a draining fairy."

"Who cares about that?" Karma huffed and turned, "That damn mammal is ruining everything he touches."

"They are a snake, idiot," Kaede laughed, "Snakes are no mammals!"

"I knew that, you brat! That brat is acting like a damn mammal baby!"

"Are you considering them your baby now?"

"What? No!"

"Should I stop them?" Aguri wondered to herself before shrugging and passing the two bickering teens and went to the bedroom, where she scolded the bluehead and told them about the bathroom before going on to switch the sheets with new ones and cleaning the little form, Kaede enjoying the impromptu bath the bluehead dragged her into.

That was certainly a hectic first night…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?
> 
> edit: i forget it was at the first night so nagisa didn't have his name and gender yet. fixed it!


	4. First Day, Class 3-E, and Introductions Oh My

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no comments? i'm really hurt *sniffles*  
> jk, but seriously, i need the comments to know if i'm doing a good job of entertaining your guys, okay? ^^  
> anyways, on with the story!!!!  
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!  
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does  
> as always, please review and all this crap.  
> love you guys.  
> enjoy! ^^  
> p.s. shit, the manga ended... WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? HOW WILL I LIVE WITHOUT NAGISA? OLDER NAGISA WAS SO ADROABLE THOUGH! ESPECIALLY THAT BLOODLUST MOMENT AND HIS SHORT HAIR!

"We're here," Aguri said in relief, glad to finally arrive at the base of the mountain where her classroom resided with some minutes to spare. She glanced back to tell the duo to unbuckle themselves, hand flying to her mouth in a struggle not to burst out laughing while apologizing at the same time.

The redhead and greenette were holding each other in a death hold as if their lives depended on it, which in their opinion might be true. Their eyes were blown open in fear and their mouths hang open.

"Kaede? Karma? Are you okay?" She asked in slight worry after a while of no response. Karma blinked and closed his mouth, untangling himself from the greenette and shakily grinned at her, unbuckling himself and reaching for the door.

"Kar—" The door flung open and Karma rushed outside, putting a long distance between himself and the car, ranting something about an abomination that needed to be taken out of this world and an uncle with annoying speed obsession. Aguri looked at the redhead, sighing after a moment and shaking her head in amusement, getting out of the car and opening Kaede's side, catching the girl as she slumped, small fingers clutching at her shirt, knuckles white.

"I guess having rode for a first time in a speeding car isn't really a smart idea, huh?" She mused to herself, but decided that enough is enough and brought girl to her feet and stood before the two, hands on hips.

"Seriously, you guys, I think you are just being overdramatic now. It wasn't that fast, I barely even went over the speed limit, and you were safe the whole time. I have exceptional driving skills. Now stop moping since we need to climb that mountain if we want to get to the classroom anytime soon."

The two shot her glares which she knew she would be feeling their aftereffects for the rest of the day, but slowly recovered from the 'near death experience' and started walking to the direction she pointed to them. At first, they were shuffling their legs, casting narrowed eyes back to the vehicle, but slowly the trees around them seemed to lift their spirits and soon Kaede was admiring the blooming flowers and low branches, telling Aguri some of the names and then how the plants in her home forest were different from here. Karma didn't really say anything aside from answering some questions Kaede asked him and looking around. But his posture seemed more relaxed and his breath evened out, the complaints stopping. Aguri smiled at her little success to get them to calm down and looked at her watch; it was five minutes to class and their pace was good, so they should reach their destination soon.

A twig snapping had the good mood the two had vanish in a second. Kaede and Karma tensed and the redhead walked past the girls and seemed ready for a fight when he saw three figures walking before them and when the figures cleared from him closing the gap, his shoulders drooped in relief and he fell back to wait for the girls to reach him.

"Humans wearing the same clothes as you," Karma told Kaede and the girl sighed in relief as well and her steps returned to their earlier bounciness.

"Must be students…" Aguri wondered which ones they were. But she needn't worry since the three spotted them and waited until they saw them and the one at the left waved at them cheekily.

"Morning, teach," The one who spoke was the tallest of the trio, sporting chin-length orange-brown hair and same colored eyes twinkling in playfulness, wearing the gray pants and a yellow vest over a white shirt and black tie.

"Good morning to you too, Maehara," Aguri returned the greeting. The one in the middle smiled in a way that had put the smaller girl in a calm state.

"Good morning, Yukimura-sensei," The middle boy joined. He was the second tallest, slightly longer black hair framing his pale face and pale gold eyes, two strands coming up and down, resembling antennas. Karma wondered if it was modeled after ants and cackled internally at the image that came with that. He was wearing the same pants but with the same colored blazer covering the white shirt and black tie instead of the vest. "Who are those two?"

"Good morning, Isogai, I'll explain further at class but for now those are Karma and Kaede. Is everyone at class?"

"Well, except for Okuda who called in sick, everyone is called for," The boy called Isogai answered with a kind smile, "We were coming up now since Nakamura ran into a slight problem on her way here. Nothing to worry though."

"I see, thank you," Aguri sighed, "I'll talk to her later about this matter. We should head to class first."

"Of course." Isogai smiled and then turned to the duo who had been silent this entire exchange and bowed his head to Karma, "It's very nice to meet you, karma, I'm Isogai Yuuma, Class 3-E's male rep."

"Nice to meet you," Karma said with an amused smirk. Isogai nodded and gestured to the Maehara kid.

"This is Maehera Hiroto." Maehara slung an arm around the black haired boy, grinning, "I'm this guy's best friend, knows everything about love that there is to know, so don't hesitate to ask."

"I'll be certain to use… those services," Karma rolled his eyes while Kaede laughed a bit embarrassedly at the boldness of the boy. Isogai simply sighed and gestured to the last of them, who had been simply observing them with a small frown.

"This is Kataoka Megu, the female class 3-E's rep and so my partner." The gray haired girl nodded in greeting, her serious demeanor unchanging but it didn't aggravate the two for some reason, maybe it was her small tilt of the mouth.

"Very nice to meet you, but we need to get going since class is starting, sensei," Katoka reminded them and so they quickly made their way up the mountain.

* * *

Aguri told the two of them to wait outside until she'll call them in, just to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary. Karma and Kaede shared amused looks and Aguri sighed, telling them that she didn't mean _this_ kind of out of the ordinary.

She opened the door, not noticing the two's tensing bodies. "Just… stay here," She finished and entered the classroom, closing the door behind her. Kaede glanced at the redhead and back at the door, body shivering a bit.

"So I wasn't the only one noticing it…" Karma cursed and hunched his shoulders, "Seriously, what even _is_ this class? To produce such dark miasma…"

"So our senses weren't dulled by the transformation," Kaede clenched her fists to her chest, "What happened to those poor kids…?"

"Well, considering we are teenagers in those bodies, we are 'kids' as well."

"No time for jokes, idiot," Kaede snapped at him. Gold eyes looked at her with disdain.

"Wasn't joking, greenie. We are considered kids here, we probably won't be able to do much since they won't take us seriously. Did you ever take seriously the fledglings in your village?"

"…" Kaede looked away, eyes shadowed by her bangs. Karma huffed and leaned back on the wall, adorning a mocking grin when Aguri opened the door again and invited them in. Karma strode in first with Kaede close second, trying to see beyond the gloom.

Thankfully, the feeling dissipated and she could take in the faces of the students. There wasn't many, simply half the room was occupied, and all of them were staring at them.

Lucky Nagisa, getting to sleep in…

"So those two are my uncle's children," Aguri said to the classroom, Kaede making herself listen since she just realized that they didn't talk about a cover story for them. This wasn't good… "Sadly, my uncle grew sick and was rushed to the hospital so Karma and Kaede are staying with me for the time being, are there any questions?"

None came. "Good, so you two will sit there, behind Maehara and Takebayashi," The woman gestured to two empty seats at the second to last row by the door. Karma and Kaede walked there, feeling the brunt of the stares on them. Kaede fidgeted a bit, recalling a memory where similar stares were bearing down on her.

_'I'm scared. We should have her leave.'_

_'Shh, she can hear you.'_

_'The fledglings are in danger with her here.'_

"Greenie," Karma's voice snapped her out of her stupor and she looked up to see him smirk at her and gesture to the metallic chair behind a boy with glasses and black hair who was staring at her with wide eyes, mumbling something about 'Anime hair'. Feeling self-conscious, she sat down and looked down to her… was it a table? It was way too small to fit more than a single person. She frowned and chanced a peek at her companion who seemed as confused by the table as her.

"Okay, now that we're settled, let's begin the roll call," Aguri clasped her hands and the class quieted down, the aura slightly brighter now. Kaede took a deep breath and straightened up.

This is her new life. Time to learn more about it.

* * *

What… in… heaven's name? Kaede stared at the board, unblinking as the unknown symbols filled it.

She closed her eyes, realizing the horror of the situation.

She can't read… that's really, _really_ bad… she took a deep breath and opened them, the symbols growing fuzzier and then back to normal… but somehow they slightly remind her of her world's writing. That is 'add' and those are numbers… she clutched her head as a headache started.

"Don't stop," Karma told her and her head snapped to him. He looked at her and smirked knowingly, "Luckily for you, as a god I knew a lot of languages so I don't really need to study how to read. But you probably don't so listen properly, greenie."

Kaede eyed him for a long time before sighing and heeding his advice, the symbols growing clearer as she concentrated on them.

* * *

By the end of the morning lessons, she could recognize most of the symbols and her head was pounding. This was probably connected to the reason they could speak the same language despite not hearing it ever, but did it have to be so nerve-wrecking?

She wanted to sleep so much right now. Despite not managing to read for most of it, the history lesson had been interesting even though she knew nothing from it. It all seems like stuff that happened way after her world's time or just out of her world's logic. The only things they had were humans holed in their own villages and the wizards in their castles…

Her mood worsened as she remembered her last encounter with The Wizard.

Her hands ached at the reminder.

Aguri clasped her hands again and the greenette's attention drew to the woman. "This is it for now, class dismissed."

Home? Apparently not since all the other students did was take out covered boxes from their tables and open them, revealing food…

So it's lunch now… too bad they didn't bring anything with them… lucky Nagisa…

"Hello there." She flickered her eyes up to look into peridot green eyes and a bright smile contrasting with the gloom she felt merely hours ago. She blinked and smiled hesitantly.

"Hello…" She said timidly, not knowing what to say to the human girl after being snapped out of her thoughts.

"I'm Kurahashi Hinano." The girl didn't seem bothered by her reaction, light orange hair bouncing as she sat on the table, grinning at her, "But call me Hinano, nice to meet you Kaede."

"It's very nice to meet you too," Kaede smiled more genuinely now, the girl's bright personality contagious, "So what brings you here?"

"Well, wanting to learn more about the transfer student, of course!" Kurahashi exclaimed, then seemed to remember something when a blond girl appeared behind her, blue eyes twinkling in a very familiar glint. "Oh, this is Nakamura Rei."

"Nice to meet you, greenie," Nakamura said and immediately Kaede realized where she had seen the glint before. Karma.

Not good.

She glanced at the redhead and saw his ears perk up, his mischievous senses tingling.

Not good at all.

She stood up abruptly, cutting off Nakamura's next comment, grabbed Kurahashi's wrist and dragged her outside, praying that the two devils won't follow them.

"Whoa, whoa, what's wrong, Kaede?" The orange head asked her in worry when they sat on the grass outside the class, their back to one of the trees surrounding the clearing. Kaede glanced one more time towards the building, then relaxed when she saw no one following them.

"We're doomed," She said to the confused girl, "Karma has met someone like him…. They're going to destroy this class…" The only reason Karma hasn't pranked her or Nagisa yet is because it has been less than a day since they met and were still trying to adapt to their human bodies and limitations.

"You're being overdramatic," Kurahashi begun to laugh, "What's so bad about those two?"

"Karma is a master prankster," An understatement since he is the _god_ of mischief, "And his mischief senses just went off, meaning Nakamura is a prankster as well," And any aid to the **_god_** of **_mischief_** would mean the world's ruin, "We're doomed."

Kurahashi laughed even louder at that, "Oh, Rei is harmless, really. She likes to tease people, but she won't harm them, so don't worry about that."

Kaede looked at her then sighed in defeat; no human would understand the gravity of having a _god_ team up with an ignorant mortal, it's not her fault she doesn't get it. Kurahashi snickered and placed the covered box on the grass, somehow managing to hold on even as she was dragged away.

"Well, I guess siblings would say that about one another," She said thoughtfully.

Kaede blinked. Siblings? As in… blood related brothers and sisters? Kaede looked at the girl and Kurahashi smiled.

"What? You kind of remind me of my siblings."

"You have siblings?" That's strange… are siblings an actual thing in the human world?

"Yep, six of them. I'm in the middle. My brothers are always thinking on some perverted stuff so it's been a nightmare sometimes to be in the same room with them."

"Sorry to hear that..." Perverted? She really should learn more human terminology…

"Though to be honest, I didn't really think Karma was your brother…"

"Why?" Kaede paled slightly, did she see through their lie?

"Well, you don't really look the same…" Kurahashi shrugged and Kaede bit her lip.

"Well, we're not exactly… blood related…" Oh, for heaven's sake, why did you say that, Green Flower?

"You are adopted?" Kurahashi gasped and the greenette sent a quick thank you to the forest deities for giving her such a naïve friend as she nodded. "Oh, I'm such a terrible friend for asking those things!"

"Don't worry about it, really, you can ask me anything," She reassured the girl.

"Then..." The other girl fiddled with her box wrapping, "Do you have any… brothers or sisters other than Karma?" Kurahashi inquired and Kaede wondered if she should mention Nagisa. Well, maybe he'll join them soon so…

"Yes, his name is Nagisa."

"Sounds feminine," Kurahashi frowned and the greenette shrugged, glad that the girl seemed back to normal.

"Well, he does have a very feminine body, but Aguri told me that the name is gender neutral so it's no problem."

Kurahashi perked up at that and looked at the classroom, as if fearing to have their conversation overhead. Kaede stiffened, what's going on? What did she do?

"What?"

"You probably shouldn't mention that to Rei…" Kurahashi said, "If she finds out, she'll tease him so much over that."

"I thought she was harmless."

"She is, unless it's about teasing people she finds interesting, and Karma's brother sounds like a great material for that," Kurahashi sighed and uncovered the cloth covering the box, looking up when Kaede remained unmoving, "Do you not have your O-bento with you?" She asked the greenette, who seemed now a bit flustered.

"O-bento?" Kaede asked, cursing herself. They really should have prepared better for this… Please let the other girl be naïve, please—

"Your lunch box, silly," Kurahashi teased and Kaede nearly sighed in relief. She instead shrugged and rubbed her head sheepishly, hoping that her pounding heart won't be heard by the girl.

"Well, we don't really make them at home; and usually at lunch Karma would be plotting pranks, Nagisa would sleep and I would just talk to people."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kurahashi gasped, "You were probably insulted at that! I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable again, I'm such an idiot," She apologized.

"No, no, it's fine, everyone would make the mistake," Kaede chuckled nervously, glad for the girl's gullible personality.

"But still…" Kurahashi frowned, then she took a bit of the octopus shaped red food and offered her, "Want some?"

"Sure," Kaede smiled and closed her mouth over the bite, eyes brightening up. "This is really good."

"Glad to hear that," Kurahashi grinned and glanced at a beetle that was crawling by them lazily, not seeming to notice them, "Oh my god, a white eyed beetle!" She exclaimed, the shout fading immediately when the beetle flew away in alarm, leaving the dejected girl behind with the greenette gazing at her with amusement mixed with interest.

"You like beetles?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically. "I like animals and nature overall. I am planning to work as a vet after I finish school."

Hazel eyes widened in awe and happiness. "I like nature as well!" Well, she lives there, but you get her point!

The girls quickly moved to talk over different plants and animals, Kaede finding out that many herbs she used were fantastical in this world yet as many were considered rare or unconfirmed of their abilities. Kurahashi told her about many animals she never heard and even showed her a very interesting rectangular metal piece that had moving figures over it, showing her 'pictures', as she called them, of the different animals. They were rather… odd, rather plain. But she didn't comment on that, only opting to listen and add her own knowledge of her world's animals.

After what seemed to be minutes, Kurahashi looked up in alarm and stood up, reaching a hand to Kaede, who took it. "It's almost the end of lunch time so we should get back to the class…" Her peridot green eyes dulled and Kaede was hit with the gloom from earlier, her eyes widening as the fog entered her sight.

What's going on?

"Hinano?" She asked agitatedly. Kurahashi looked over to her and sighed, shoulders slumping.

"I'm sorry, I'm being silly. I like Yukimura-sensei and all… but…"

"But what?" Kaede pressed on, "You seem as if you going to your doom."

"Well, in some way that's the case," The girl admitted, looking away when Kaede become rigid, "This classroom… being part of class 3-E is not a present… it's a sign of our failure."

"Class 3-E?"

"E as in End," Kurahashi confirmed and Kaede gasped, eyes widening in fear and hands covering her mouth.

"It sounds like they are sending you to your death!" What kind of horrible creatures are humans?

"What, no!" Kurahashi immediately shook her head, "It's just the end of our hopes."

Kaede wasn't convinced. "…What do you mean?"

"This school is a very prestigious one and so to keep it that way – the kids with the lowest grades are thrown in here to maintain the students' motivation."

Grades? They sound pretty important… Kaede filed that later to ask Aguri and focused on the other matter… "So you are like what? Scapegoats?"

Kurahashi nodded, head hung low, but the greenette could see the glint of a tear falling off. "We are discriminated and the students are encouraged to bully us to give them reason to study and do better. We are just a means to an end for them…"

The greenette shuddered but took a deep breath, knowing that the girl didn't need more distressing emotions, embracing the anxious girl. "It's okay, Hinano, I'm still here. No matter what they do, you're no less of a person because of their actions."

Hinano drew a shaky breath and buried her face into her shoulder, sobbing, "Thank you, Kaede! All my friends left me after I was sent here. You're the only one who stayed!"

"Oh, Hinano…" Kaede held the girl, thinking back to her village and their separation from her after she had been cursed. The chief always said that their species is different than the barbaric humans but perhaps… they aren't so different…

After a moment, Kurahashi calmed down enough to step back and wipe her tears, giving the greenette a big smile, the gloom thankfully receding. A tension she didn't know she had dissipated from her chest and she smiled brightly back, glad that the orange head was happier.

"Shall we head back then?" Kurahashi grabbed her wrist and dragged her back to the classroom, the birds chirping after them and making her smile soften, hope brimming in her chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	5. A Glimpse of Despair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think of the title for last chapter? *winks*
> 
> so... yeah, first day not so bad, huh? well, can't really say that about their home lives.
> 
> also, i want to make something clear (don't worry, none of you are in trouble *chuckle*) this story is purely family/fantasy with some dark moments (a lot + very dark) and fluff thrown into the mix. no romance, i'm terrible with those things, so sorry about that but no karma/nagisa or karma/kaede (someone is popular~ *laughs*)
> 
> got some writer's rewrite block so future chapters are written really slowly with me hating them so much, so sorry in advance since i had to insert some things in even at the cost of them seeming forced since they're important to the story.
> 
> originaly, more stuff were planned for the first day but i only remembered what i wrote after posting so i wrote an extra day to make sure i got it all so... sorry again *shrugs*
> 
> but i really hope you won't mind.
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. no new chapters for two weeks already... i miss this manga more than i expected... *sniff* i miss my nagisa...

"So how did you like your first day?" Aguri asked the two who were doing their best not to fall asleep in their places, too tired to care about being in the deadly trap. Kaede reflected back at the second part of the day after they returned to the classroom. She had written to Karma about the reason for the gloom and the redhead narrowed his eyes, not understanding the whole idea of 'grades' so he wasn't that much of a help. Then came a lesson about a language different than the one they were speaking so Kaede was stuck once again not understanding a thing, this time the symbols not fuzzying to clearance so it seems that she would need to learn it physically. She sighed at the thought and looked at the passing scenery she missed the first round, heart still beating frantically over the car jumping over bumps and rattling.

It wasn't such a bad day overall, just exhausting mentally. She yawned and closed her eyes, wondering how Nagisa was faring with being left alone back home…

Hazel snapped open and she straightened up. What if he woke up, not understanding where they had gone to and is scared? She bit her lip and started fidgeting in her spot, wishing they would get home quickly.

Which is why, when they stopped, she tore the strap off her and rushed to the door of the house, rattling the handle only to remember that Aguri had used a strange key to lock the door so she can't enter. She looked back to the woman approaching with a concerned expression, vibrating on her legs as she urged the woman to unlock the door.

"Okay, okay, I got it," Aguri inserted the piece into the door and twisted it, opening it and taking a step back when Kaede passed past her in a blur. The woman blinked and turned to Karma, "What happened?"

Karma shrugged. "Probably needed the bathroom."

"...Makes sense."

Kaede ran into the living room and skidded to a stop before the couch, eyes falling on the still form of the blunet, the only things moving are the rising and falling chest and the strands of blue hair fluttering from the soft exhales.

Kaede released a breath she didn't realize she held and crouched before the sleeping boy, smiling at the peaceful expression he held.

After a moment, she reached out and flicked the forehead, jumping a bit when blue eyes flew open and the body stiffened. She gave him a bright smile to calm him down.

"Morning, sleepyhead, how did you sleep?" Nagisa blinked and yawned, sitting up and stretching, the blanket falling off from his form. The blunet took notice of the material and raised it, inspecting it curiously while Karma and Aguri entered the room.

"How did you sleep, Nagisa?" Aguri came over and ruffled the boy's hair, slipping off the hair-ties and retying the messy hair. Nagisa shrugged and yawned again.

"I swear, he can sleep for eternity if we let him be," Karma grumbled and Nagisa hissed. "What? Got a problem with the truth, limbless?" Karma said with a smirk.

"Now, now, Karma, stop antagonizing your brother," Aguri scolded the boy. Karma gave her a long disbelieving gaze, before huffing and turning on his feet, walking away.

Kaede blinked then her mouth stretched to a long evil grin.

"Why are you grinning, Kaede?"

"He is concerned with Nagisa~" She said in a sing-song tone. Aguri gave her a strange look and Kaede simply returned it with a smug look. The woman simply sighed and mumbled something about making dinner before walking to the kitchen, leaving her once again with the groggy blunet.

Kaede sat by the other's legs, letting her eyes close as she took in the silence.

"Today was really interesting," She said softly, gaining the former snake's attention, "And I made a friend. I really missed having friends…"

A soft hiss and the other shifted so he was facing her, his hand coming up to rub her back. She sniffled and leaned into the touch, opening watery eyes.

"I'm so grateful…"

* * *

Aguri dished out rice with curry, the table already made before by the two (Nagisa was in charge of placing stuff Kaede passed him since his legs were still uncertain), which pleased the woman.

"So I still didn't get an answer," Aguri said in amusement when they sat down. Kaede and Karma exchanged glances before staring back at her in confusion.

"What question?"

"Why, the 'how was your day' one," Aguri shrugged.

"Oh, found an interesting 'friend'..." Karma smirked darkly and Kaede suddenly remembered the danger.

"Aguri, you can't let Karma be friends with Rei," She said in an alarmed tone. Aguri raised her brow. "If they're going to be friends it's going to be the end of the world."

"Oh my, someone is being overdramatic," Karma cackled, "Nakamura is a perfectly good 'friend', I don't see why I can't befriend her."

"He is right, Kaede," Aguri scolded the girl, "Karma has every right to befriend anyone he wants unless it can harm him."

"But you don't understand!" Kaede was growling, "If they team up, it means that you had let loose a pair of pranksters who will stop at nothing to terrorize your class or this house."

"Kaede, that's not very nice to accuse your housemate like that, he hadn't done anything mischievous yet," Aguri shook her head in disappointment, "I thought you were better than that."

"Yes, Kaede, I'm really hurt by your accusations," Karma said innocently, putting on a hurt expression. Kaede gaped at him like he had grown a second head.

"Aguri!" She cried.

"Kaede, that's enough, leave Karma be and don't mention it again," Aguri berated her. The greenette growled and nearly tore her hair out when she begged Aguri not to dismiss her warning. Karma was trying hard not to laugh out loud, which irritated Kaede further.

Nagisa looked between the three of them, not understanding what's going on.

Aguri put a stop to the whole spectacle and told them to eat their food.

Kaede huffed. "Just don't come crying to me when they prank you…"

"I'll make sure I won't," Aguri rolled her eyes and they started eating.

At first, the silence was serene, but slowly the silence turned tense and the three realized that one of them would have to do something about it.

At the end Kaede sighed and asked the woman about the class.

"Why are they so sad, Aguri?"

Aguri looked at her, not ready for the sudden change in the atmosphere, then back at her food and back to her, eyes clouded with sadness. That had gained the boys' attention and the clang of utensils being placed on the table was heard and Aguri sighed in an almost echo of the girl's, interlacing her fingers and resting her forehead against them.

"Aguri?"

"This class… is a way for my boss to keep a strong grip of the students," The woman replied wearily, "The students are being graded over their tests' results—"

"What are those grades you keep mentioning?" Karma stopped her. Aguri chuckled mirthlessly.

"Grade is like a score. It's giving a numerical value to a student's achievement in written questions over a specific area or a class."

"Sounds stupid…" Karma rolled his eyes and crossed his arms behind his head, reclining back, "You can't measure a living creature's worth in numbers."

"It's not exactly a human's worth… but with the way the principal regards it, it might just be that…

Anyways, out of the all student body, they take the ones who did poorly in the previous year's exams and put them in the 3-E class and make them a way to let the other students vent their frustration on so they could focus on their studies."

"Condemned souls…" Karma commented, "This system is so similar to many others; leave the weak behind or use them a stepping board for the others."

"Are you saying it's okay to treat them that way!?" Kaede exclaimed in shock, "Of course you need to leave the weak behind, but to humiliate them and play with them? That's no way to get rid of them."

Aguri stared at the girl as if she grew a second head. "Wait… you're not disagreeing with the leaving the weak behind?"

Now she was the one receiving the looks. Kaede furrowed her brows. "Of course not, that's the way things are. If you're weak you're just going to be a burden and no one wants to be that so we bring them to other side of the forest and let them live their peacefully the rest of their days."

"What if they can be patched back?"

"Well, then of course you're going to take care of them. Weak means those who don't have long to live or can't function in a way that they can live without help."

Even Nagisa was nodding with that. Somehow, she felt betrayed.

Karma chuckled darkly at her stupefied look. "Aguri, this is survival. Mercy isn't something that can coexist with it, so we don't use it."

"But…" Aguri bit back her lip, not wanting to start a fight she knew she would lose since those three didn't seem to understand why those things seem to be so important.

"But I guess you can say that your class isn't weak," Karma shrugged at her hopeful gaze, "If grades are what determines your worth and you apparently need to work for it, I guess your class can prove itself so it doesn't need to be treated that way."

"Careful, your caring side is showing," Kaede teased the redhead, "Is your godly indifference crumbling?"

"Oh, shut up, greenie," Karma huffed and snatched Nagisa's hand in the air, glaring at the boy, "And I don't need back rubbing."

The ice broke and the girls cracked up while Nagisa hissed at the redhead, wriggling his hand out of the hold.

"Okay, I think it's time for you guys to head to sleep since you need to get up at the same time as today." Aguri said cheerfully, reaching for Nagisa's plate when she realized what she was doing; she had planned for them to admit to her that they had ran away from their homes after the day in her class, but instead she was more entranced by them and almost wished they didn't leave…

"Aguri, you stopped moving," Kaede pointed out and the black haired woman blinked, smiling in apology and hurriedly collected their dishes and rushed to the kitchen, eyes glancing back every so often, mind working around the knowledge that those are potentially runaways or mental patients or…

_Or they could be telling the truth…_

She shook her head and took a deep breath, bracing her hands over the counter as her brain was fighting against her instincts, telling her that they're actors; that they're lying just to get her to keep them.

But the part of her that always longed for kids looked at them and saw lost children looking for a direction after being thrown into a confusing reality. That they need her help. That she could be the one guiding them, giving them the love they need to grow up and mature in this world.

"This is too confusing…" She admitted to herself, heart leaping to her throat when a hand landed on her arm, heart slowly coming down when she heard the familiar hiss.

"Nagisa," She breathed out in relief and turned to the blunet, who was holding himself with one hand on the counter while the other still rested on her arm, rubbing it in circles soothingly, big blue eyes regarding her with apprehension, showing intelligence despite his childish antics.

"I'm fine," She reassured him when he didn't move, "Just a bit overwhelmed. I was supposed to send you back home already… I don't even know why I picked you three up… maybe it's because you showed up naked in my frontyard," She chuckled at that, "That was certainly a sight to see."

A low hiss and he tilted his head, eyes still bright and wide. She looked back, then burst out laughing and turned to the blunet, giving him a tight bearhug.

Nagisa let out a strange cross between a hiss and a yelp and flailed a bit in her arms, slowly calming down and simply standing there.

"Thank you, Nagisa," She mumbled and ruffled the blue, "I really appreciate it." She released him, turned him around and pushed him out of the kitchen, "Come on, time to sleep."

A confused hiss, but he stumbled forward, slowly disappearing into the hall. Aguri watched him go, and then decided that it was too late for those kinds of life-changing decisions and went to her bedroom as well, hoping that the next morning would give her the answer she didn't realize she would need.

* * *

Nagisa entered the guest room with Kaede and Karma already dressed up for sleep; an oversized shirt for the greenette and a strange colored shirt with pants for the redhead.

"About time you arrived," Karma took a long moment to acknowledge him. Nagisa only hissed softly at him, accepting Kaede's help in changing into his own oversized shirt.

"Oh, he was just trying to comfort Aguri," Kaede chided the redhead, "And just admit that you got concerned when he didn't appear in the room before you."

"Huh?" Karma stared at her, "What am I, his nanny? He can go and get run over by one of those 'car' thingies for all I care."

"Oh, you bashful god," The greenette teased him, turning to the bed when he turned to glare at her. Nagisa simply climbed onto the bed and lied over the blanket in the middle, curled to a small ball. Karma grumbled and yanked the blanket from under the blunet. Nagisa hissed at him but quieted when the blanket was thrown over him and Karma lied next to him, his back to him.

"I swear to Odin, you touch me or lean closer and I kick you out of the bed, understood?" Karma sneered but Nagisa was already asleep so the redhead was left with cursing under his breath.

Kaede rolled her eyes and crept over the blanket, not really needing the heat it emitted, but smiling in affection when Nagisa's arms snaked around hers like a snake would over a branch, closing her eyes and falling fast sleep.

* * *

_Their hands were restricted to the rough surface, their body trembling as they tried to find a way to release themselves._

**_Thick hands held their arms, forcing them to their knees._ **

**_Blue… Black..._ **

_'It's your fault!'_

**_'Treason!'_ **

**_'…'_ **

_'We need to get rid of this danger!'_

**_'How dare you!?'_ **

**_'…'_ **

_"It's all my fault…"_

**_"Treason?! For protecting him?!"_ **

**_Blue… Black... Pounding... Red…_ **

_"Help me…"_

**_"How could you do it to my —?!"_ **

**_Blue… Pounding... Black... Red… Red… Shrills…_ **

_"No… no, no, no, no, NO!"_

**_"Stop it! Don't do it!"_ **

**_Black... Red… Red… blueredblackblueredblueredblueredblackblueredblueredblackbluered…_ **

_STOP **DON'T RED**PLEASE **BROTHER SCREAMS**PAIN **LOSS RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**RED **RED RED**_

_S **C RE**A **A A**A **A A**A **A A**A **A A**A **A A**A **A A**A **A A**A **A A**A **A A**A **A A**A **M S—**_

_**—** _

**_—_ **

_**—** _

Three gasps pierced through the rising dawn.

* * *

Aguri already expected the scene in front of her when she opened the door the second morning since they met, seeing Kaede trying to teach Nagisa to speak, the boy mimicking her mouth movements better than last morning, but only the hisses came out, almost mocking the blunet for his efforts.

"Good morning, Aguri," Kaede greeted her when she closed the door, Nagisa tilting his head to the side, blinking at Aguri with his usual calm but curious gaze he held when he wasn't agitated.

The woman wondered if she should get a second bed for Kaede since it's not appropriate for a girl to sleep in the same bed as two boys, though the girl didn't seem bothered by it…

"Good morning, Kaede, how is it going?" She smiled, pushing aside her thoughts.

"It's… better than yesterday," Kaede sighed, Nagisa frowning at her sign of distress. Kaede smiled at him, "It's okay, you'll get it."

The blunet perked up, then zeroed on her and for a moment it seemed that he was going to attack her, until the girls realized that his mouth was twitching.

"Are you trying to copy my smile?" Kaede said in amusement mixed with awe. Nagisa stopped his attempts to frown and nod, then jolted when she laughed and pressed two fingers to the corners of his mouth, lifting them up to an exaggerated version of her smile. "Now, _this_ is a 'smile'," She smiled brightly at the crossed eyed look the blunet made when he tried to see what she did. He looked at her fingers then back at her, then reached out and pressed his fingers to the corners of her mouth, lifting them up.

Aguri laughed at the image they made; each one lifting the other's lips to a giant smile. Kaede joined her, leaving Nagisa hissing confusedly, the hissing muffled by the strange shape Kaede's fingers pulled the lips to.

"Oh, shut up, people are trying to sleep here." The trio turned to the human lump behind Nagisa, golden eyes peering from underneath the blanket.

"Are we going to have to go through this again?" Kaede sighed while Aguri chuckled. Karma huffed and sat up, shrugging off the blanket and flinging it over Nagisa as he stood up and wobbled, sleepy enough to lose his flimsy balance, to the closet. Nagisa flailed a bit, Kaede laughing as she helped him. But she wasn't fast enough to stop the boy from leaping from the bed towards the redhead, his legs still not strong enough to support him, so he fell, hand finding Karma's shirt and once again, the redhead found himself on the floor.

"Oh, for Odin's sake!" Karma cried in frustration, yanking the blunet off him and jumping away from the lunging boy, stopping him by getting behind him and circling his arms up around the smaller form's shoulders, securing him in place. Nagisa struggled in his hold until Aguri sighed and stood before the two and flicked the blunet's forehead.

"That's not very nice of you, Nagisa, you're not supposed to attack your brother," She scolded him. Nagisa frowned and looked up, struggling again. Karma rolled his eyes, "Aguri, he's a damn snake, don't reason with him."

"Language, Karma, and he's human," Aguri berated him and returned her attention to the former snake, "Nagisa, don't attack Karma, he didn't mean to harm you."

That stopped the boy's struggling and he quieted down, enough for Karma to release the boy and dump him on the bed. Aguri shook her head at the redhead's antics but let it slide as she went to Nagisa and held his hands.

"Nagisa, I am not tolerating violence. That means no attacking Karma or Kaede, okay?" Nagisa tilted his head, blinking and frowning after a moment. Karma laughed behind her and Kaede shrugged, standing up to get dressed herself, both apparently knowing it was pointless to reason with the former snake.

"I hope it will be enough for now…" Aguri mumbled to herself as Nagisa shuffled past her and quietly leaned on the redhead as he tried to reach for a shirt, legs quivering a bit. She decided that it was indeed enough for now and exited the room, going to prepare breakfast.

She was really dooming herself, wasn't she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	6. Bonus Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel a bit lonely, no one had been commenting my last chapter. *sobs*
> 
> got some writer's rewrite block so future chapters are written really slowly with me hating them so much, so sorry in advance since i had to insert some things in even at the cost of them seeming forced since they're important to the story.
> 
> originaly, more stuff were planned for the first day but i only remembered what i wrote after posting so i wrote an extra day to make sure i got it all so... sorry again *shrugs*
> 
> also this is a bonus chapter since i once again only remembered a scene after i posted so...
> 
> but i really hope you won't mind.
> 
> p.s. I'M NOT GOING TO LIE, I HAVE BEEN THINKING OF DISCONTINUING THIS STORY SINCE IT IS SO HARD TO REWRITE IT AND I HAD RELAPLES OF DEPRESSION WHICH REWRTITING AND HOME'S SITUATION HAD TRIGGERED. BUT I'M SO THANKFUL FOR GRIEWER WHO KEEPS ME SANE AND FOR YOU GUYS WHO KEEP ME WANTING TO CONTINUE.
> 
> THANK YOU, REALLY!
> 
> enjoy^^
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. no new chapters for three weeks already... i miss this manga more than i expected... *sniff* i miss my nagisa...
> 
> who liked the side story chapter? and the girl looked like nagisa or is it just me?

_Second day after dinner and before Nagisa returns from comforting Aguri:_

"Karma, what's wrong?" Kaede asked when they entered the guest room and dressed for bed, "You seem a bit upset. Was the conversation too harsh on Aguri?"

"No," Karma huffed, "She knows that we aren't human but she can't accept it yet."

"So what is it?" The greenette sat on the bed and stared at him as he leaned onto the opposite wall. Dull gold eyes stared back and the redhead sighed and pressed his scalp to the wall.

"I just realized that we have been staying here for two days and we have not yet been asked to pay for our stay."

Kaede froze.

"What?" He quirked up a brow.

She started shaking and her eyes bulged out. "We... we can't pay her!"

"Whoa, relax greenie," Karma strode to her and snapped his fingers in front of her eyes, "Don't freak out over every little thing I say. I mean, I know I am a god, but I won't punish you."

"Not you," Kaede shook her head to clear it and sighed, fists clenched and body still trembling, "Aguri."

"Again, why?"

"You said it yourself - we didn't pay her! And to make matters worse, we don't even have this world's form of payment. And perhaps she didn't mention it, but she must be thinking about it."

Karma grumbled and sat down, throwing a pillow at the girl's face. She sputtered and fell back, immediately sitting up and pouting at him. He grinned at her. "As I said, you're freaking out."

"But—"

"Stop it. If she had wanted payment from us she would have had asked for it already. I don't think she is thinking about it, but we do have to think of way. There is no way taking care of us and limbless is free of charge - food, clothes and education cost, and cost a lot."

Kaede took a deep breath and clutched the pillow to her chest, drawing comfort from it as her hair pooled around her, hiding her face. "Do... do you think we could find work here?" She asked after a moment.

Karma adorned a thinking face, crossing his legs. "Probably. Limbless probably doesn't realize the problem and would stay useless until he actually acts like a human."

"Here you go off again, despite us knowing that you care about him," Kaede looked up, eyes watering yet twinkling. Karma glared at her and chucked the second pillow at her. She yelped as she once again found herself on her back, but this time she stayed this way, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.

"Karma?"

"Hmm?"

"Can we really stay here? Can we really be happy?" Her voice was small and scared. He glanced at her, cheek on his open palm and elbow on his knee. "I don't want to lose this thing that we four have. I don't want to be abandoned again," She said with small hiccups as she tried to rein in her tears.

"I don't think Aguri would let you go even if we couldn't pay her back," Karma said with a suprisingly soft tone, "Just believe in her, I guess. We'll figure out a way to pay her back and then you won't freak out so much."

"... Thank you, Karma," Kaede said through soft sobs. Karma didn't answer her, gazing at the door, his eyes flashing.

_'I don't care about the cost, I am not letting you stay in this wretched place.'_

_"..."_

_'I will take care of you, I will never leave you alone.'_

_"..."_

_'It's okay, big brother will make the pain go away...'_

_**"How dare you!?"** _

He snapped back to awareness when the blunet entered the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	7. What Is Family?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe I should start writing every once a while a bonus chapter since people seem to really like those. what do you think?
> 
> didn't really had any progress in writing, but luckily i have rewritten until chapter 7 and 75% finished with the rewrite so i have time to waste *chuckle*
> 
> enjoy^^
> 
> p.s. so my life is trying to ruin me once again, the army not being helpful as well and the process i'm going through is basically me trying to not to drown while searching for ways to advance with no help whatsoever from them...
> 
> well, at least i finished the project and i'm going to italy in two weeks, no?
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. no new chapters for three weeks already... i miss this manga more than i expected... *sniff* i miss my nagisa...

"What are you doing, Kaede?" Aguri asked the girl as she carried the tray with fish, miso soup and rice to the table, seeing Kaede doing something with Nagisa's hair as he nodded off by the table – how can he sleep so much and still fall asleep with ease at night?

"Oh, I just like his hair so I'm braiding it," She gestured to the very thin braid she was working on, her fingers nimbly weaving the hair, almost impossibly so.

"You really have agile fingers," Aguri commented as she set the tray on the table and hovered behind the girl to gaze at her handiwork. Kaede beamed at her and swiftly undone the braids and redid the signature twin pony tails. Nagisa yawned and stared groggily at them, pointing to the tray as if asking them why they are taking their time. The girls giggled and Aguri called Karma from the bedroom.

They sat down and Aguri stared at Nagisa's hair and then at Kaede's, contemplating something. Kaede noticed her stares and inquired about it.

"Oh, I was just thinking how pretty Nagisa's hair is and was comparing it to you, which is also very beautiful. Then I wondered why his hair is so long…"

"Well, Nagisa was formerly a snake, so who knows how it was translated when he transformed to a human, but it sure is strange to see a long hair on a male…" Kaede looked at Nagisa then fingered her own green hair, the locks slipping like water from her fingers.

"I thought male fay would have long hair as well." Kaede laughed at her comment, shaking her head and laughing louder. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Oh, no, no," The greenette dismissed the worries, "It's just so impractical for the males to have long hair."

"…" Kaede took that as a sign to continue.

"Well, the male's hair takes after the earth so when they used to keep it long, it would keep tangling with anything it could plant roots in; barks, the ground, even branches if they were thick enough. When it would get tangled, they would have to tear it off or just stay there until the hair sucks the nutrients it needed. At the end it became such a hindrance that the male either shaved their heads completely or cut it really short."

Aguri imagined a male version of Kaede with a bald head and burst laughing. Kaede regarded with an amused grin before it faded and she sighed. "I guess it's funny until you realize that they were hunting or hunted when the hair got tangled so it resulted in death many times."

That had shut the woman off. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, the fledglings also laugh over it the first time they see a grown male. And besides, even before the shaving, their hair looked ridiculous, like a bunch of branches sprouting out of their heads," Kaede chuckled.

"Why then do you have such a long hair?" Aguri asked after a long moment of silence, fiddling with her utensils.

"Well, the females' hair takes after the element of water and so are easier to maintain and don't get twisted with other things other than being extremly slippery so we female keep it long. Besides, I really like my hair."

"You should be, it's beautiful."

"Aguri, when are we going?" Aguri jolted, forgetting about Karma's presence besides her. She turned to the redhead, who was poking at the already sleeping Nagisa's shoulder, smearing some of the miso soup over the other's cheek and ear.

"Karma!" Aguri exclaimed and swatted the mischievous hands, grabbing a towel and cleaning the blunet. Kaede sighed, realizing that her peaceful days are over – prankster god at your service.

Just her luck. Her hands suddenly throbbed and she tucked them under the table, gritting her teeth behind her closed lips.

She is not cursed. She is not cursed. She is not cursed—

"Are you ready to leave?" Aguri's voice distracted her and she looked up with her biggest smile she could muster, noticing Karma's narrowing eyes. Despite herself, she chuckled; who knew that the former god is actually a mother-hen?

"Yep," She used the word Kurahashi said when she was feeling playful, "I'm ready."

* * *

The drive was less terrifying but Kaede was still gripping the strap tightly, heart beating frantically as control slipped by her while the car rolled out of its station.

Thankfully, the drive was shorter than she remembered and they reached the mountain just before she actually asked to be let out.

As the car stopped, she rushed outside and up the road, eyes sparkling and steps light, wanting to meet with Kurahashi and erase the feeling of uneasiness she had woken up with.

But she didn't see her until she reached the top, having to stop to get her breath back; hands on her knees as she wheezed, strange liquid coating her skin in a disgusting manner. This human body is too weak for her liking.

"Good morning, Kaede, someone seems like they just ran a marathon."

"What's. A. Marathon?" Kaede panted, looking to the side to see the amused orange haired girl stand beside her, hands clasped behind her back and green eyes twinkling with delight.

"Oh, don't even try it with me," Kurahashi giggled, "You won't finish it even if you walked the whole way."

Kaede felt like she had just been insulted. She took a deep breath and wiped her forehead, glad that the day had been cool enough to run, but she is really weak in this body. She then stood up and curled her arms around Kurahashi's shoulders, hunching over so that the girl would have to carry her weight.

"Kaede, I'm not your horse," Kurahashi laughed but dragged her nonetheless towards the class, "And if you are so tired, you shouldn't have ran the whole way, which was impressive, by the way, even if ended up as a sweat mess."

"Wanted to see you…" Kaede admitted, cheeks flushed from exertion. The orange haired girl laughed and patted her head sympathetically and dumped the girl on her chair, where the greenette sprawled over the strange one-man table (which is called apparently a 'desk'). Kurahashi sat in Takebayashi's chair that she had turned so she was facing Kaede, elbows on backrest, grinning widely.

"What got you so happy?" Kaede grumbled. The gloom had completely disappeared from the girl even when it still enveloped the others, which struck her as odd since nothing major happened to her except for a new student.

"Nothing at all," Kurahashi waved her hand in a dismissive motion, though she beamed brighter, "I'm just really happy."

"I thought you didn't like the class…"

"I like the people in it, not the reason I am here," A cloud passed over the green but it cleared away almost immediately. "I'm happy because I finally made a friend."

"Rei isn't your friend?" Kaede blinked in shock, realizing that her arrival was actually life changing to that one girl and suddenly she couldn't breathe.

Someone is depending on her. Someone can actually be hurt if she does something wrong.

Oh heaven, not again. She can't handle it again. Don't make her go through this again.

"Rei isn't someone I would actually hang out outside the classroom, so even being friends, she's not what I'm looking for."

Please don't ask her this. Please don't say it.

"But you are everything I could ask for from a bestfriend. So want to be besties?"

Her heart grew ten times heavier, throat aching from the need to weep. Why? Why must she live through this torture again and again? When she knew she was too weak to resist…

She smiled brightly and clasped Kurahashi's hands even as she felt her heart shatter. "I would love to."

She is doomed.

* * *

Karma stared at the board, chin on his hand and elbow on desk, bored out of his mind. It's not as if the material isn't interesting – he had never heard many of the things Aguri was teaching so his brain immediately stored the information away, knowing that later he would think over them and delve into the tales.

No, interesting material wasn't the problem.

It was the mundane feeling. He was sitting in a chair and just listened, something very akin to what he had done the centuries prior the incident. His mood darkened when he recalled the potion ritual gone wrong.

It was something that should have been simple, just dump the things at a certain time, light them on fire and wait for the liquefying to occur. Quick, swift, done.

He had done numerous similar rituals in the centuries he had known the witch.

Then what changed? What made this ritual different? Did the witch miscalculate the quantities? Was it an accident?

Or was it on purpose?

At that moment wrath bubbled in him, pushing the lingering gloom away and making the class shift in their chairs uncomfortably, wondering why it had gotten so warm all of the sudden.

That… that bitch! Did she give him the potion knowing that it would backfire at him? Was she watching the whole ordeal with a mocking smile on her face?

Calm down, you know her, she is too meek to even stand up to the one who bullied her, she's not going to go up against a _god_.

Some god he is, falling for the oldest trick in the book.

"Karma." He snapped out of his musing to see Kaede poke his shoulder with a concerned look, her eyes seeming dimmer than usual, as if resigned.

"What?" He snapped, but low enough that it won't be heard by their caretaker. Oh, how it hurts him to be dependent of a human being.

"You seem pretty out of it…" Kaede whispered back, flinching when he gave her his best 'No shit, idiot' glare and sighing, rubbing the heels of her palms into her eyes, "This day is just getting better and better."

"What happened with miss sunshine?" Karma grumbled and buried his hands into his pockets, fiddling with a coin he had found on his way up this morning. His hands ached to be doing something, make something, destroy something, he would even knit like a grandma if he needs to, just let him spent his anger and frustration.

"Nothing," Kaede denied, "I just feel really uneasy, that's all."

"Probably limbless burning the house down," He grinned, crushing his violent side down. He will have his chance, hold it in for just a little longer…

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny," But her lips were turned up in an uncertain smile, "Nagisa is probably still sleeping."

"Probably," He agreed. That snake is the definition of a fledgling.

Well, unless last night counts. He frowned when he remembered the wide eyed look the former snake gave him when the three of them woke up, gasping for air and drenched with sweat. The look of a lost child with no solid ground under his feet.

He kind of knew the feeling.

Then the baby's eyes shifted. For a measly second, his eyes looked like a predator poised to attack.

He gritted his teeth, forcing himself out of his stupor and concentrated back on the woman's words, his eyelids growing heavier and heavier despite himself…

"Karma, wake up." He jolted awake and glanced up to see Nakamura grin at him, holding a 'phone', clicking sounds echoing in his ears. "Morning, or should I say afternoon."

"Huh?" He scanned his surroundings, surprised to see the other students pack their stuff and early sunset rays entering the classroom, painting everything in bright reddish orange and the smell of night crept into his nose.

He slept through the entire day?!

"Yukimura-sensei was so worried that you may had slept badly last night that she didn't bother you at all," Nakamura elaborated, more clicking sounds coming from her 'phone', "Besides, you make adorable snoring sounds which I recorded of course since I'm not passing blackmail material up."

Karma grinned weakly at her and gave her a thumbs up. "I'll find a way to erase any evidence, don't underestimate me."

"Oh, I'm not," Nakamura shrugged, "That's why I already have back up just in case."

"You're a formidable woman, Nakamura Rei," Karma said in a dramatic voice, making the blonde to laugh out loud, drawing the attention of the greenette and the teacher, who were standing by the board.

"Good afternoon, Karma," Aguri smiled in relief, "Did you sleep well?"

"Next time just wake me up," Karma grinned softly, yawning and standing up, stretching himself to ease his stiff joints, "It makes my neck ache like a day in a blacksmith shop."

"Whoa, dramatic," Nakamura commented and waved the trio goodbye as she hoisted up her bag and walked out of the classroom.

The three exchanged looks and shrugged, deciding that they should get going if they want to get home before dark.

Maybe it was the comforting sunset everything in a soothing color or maybe it was the crisp mountain air, or even because of the feeling after waking up, that the world is in harmony; but Karma felt peaceful, calm, like something clicked into place.

He smiled softly and closed his eyes, taking in the sounds, scents and feelings of the mountain. His anger curling back to slumber.

It was nice.

* * *

Nagisa was still asleep when they got home, but this time he woke up as soon as Aguri stepped into the living room, eyeing them for a long time before shrugging and standing up, stumbling a bit though managing to stay on his feet as he approached them, eyes dancing between the three, as if checking for anything amiss.

"What is it, limbless?" Karma sneered when the blue gaze fell on him, his body tensing, "Just go back to sleep, idiot."

Nagisa tilted his head and reached out, stopping when his glare turned deadly, blue eyes narrowing in alarm.

"Don't try to touch my back. You do that and I will strangle you and I'm stronger than you."

"Don't bully him, Karma," Kaede chuckled, "He's just worried about you."

"Well, he can shove that caring onto another person, just not me."

Nagisa hissed in indignation, fists clenched and crinkling his shirt, eyes flashing that strange shape again. The redhead widened his eyes, letting some of his rage seep into them, hoping it would make Nagisa deflate like it would scare his enemies.

He is becoming too old.

Nagisa's eyes flashed and the blunet hissed back deeply.

"Okay, you two, I told you not to argue," Aguri snapped them out of their glare fight and even pulled them apart. "Now, apologize."

"No way," Karma growled, "And besides, it's useless; limbless doesn't know the meaning."

Nagisa, who reverted back to the clueless innocent boy, tilted his head. Karma sighed and grumbled to himself as he pushed past the others to their joined guestroom.

Aguri and Kaede watched him go and then at each other. Why was Karma so hostile to Nagisa? They looked at Nagisa who yawned and stumbled towards the dining table, hair a mess and shirt hung over his body like a potato sack.

He seemed more like a child than anything to be wary of, so what is setting Karma off?

"I'll go talk to Karma," Kaede suggested just before Aguri could suggest the same, "I'm in the same boat as him, so maybe he'll talk to me."

"Okay, you do that," Aguri nodded and the greenette set off after the redhead while Aguri went to the dining table, where she took out her last test pages and set to work while keeping an ear for the two and an eye on the blunet, who fell asleep on the table.

Maybe she is getting way over her head… and it has been several days already… no, focus on the papers and everything will clear up later, when she is alone.

* * *

"What is the matter with you?" Kaede snapped when she closed the door after her, "Why are you picking fights with Nagisa all the time? He didn't do anything."

Dull gold eyes stared at her from bed, the redhead lying on it with his arms folded behind his head. Karma sighed and looked up to the ceiling, clearly not in the mood to talk, but Kaede wasn't having any of it.

"Tell me right away, Karma. We're having enough trouble as it is for getting stuck in human bodies and now you two are fighting. I thought you were the god of mischief, not of pettiness, so how about getting your act together and actually _try_ to cooperate?"

"Oh, please, I'm the one picking up fights?" Karma huffed a bemused chuckle, "Limbless has been pushing my buttons ever since we came here. I'm actually surprised you didn't notice."

"What didn't I notice?"

"His act of innocence is what it is; an act," Karma shrugged and sat up, eyes hardening, "He's no simple snake, greenie. And I'm not going to let him catch me off guard when he decides that game time is over."

"You're not exactly a harmless bunny yourself," Kaede folded her arms, "I figured he wasn't all innocent since the both of us seem to bear some kind of a burden and you were the one to mess up and send us here. Now, if you're done with your hissy fit, I want to finish the work Aguri gave us in class today. Maybe if she isn't busy, she can help you with the history part."

Karma didn't bother to reply to her, but both knew that that isn't the end of it. Kaede sighed and turned on her heel, stopping at the entrance and chancing a glance back to see the redhead staring at the darkening skies.

A look of longing on his face.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Karma," The greenette mumbled to herself and closed the door, leaning on it, eyes looking on the ground. "I don't want to lose this new thing we four have. I've lost too much to allow it."

Hazel hardened and she took a deep breath, then pushed herself away from the door, not looking back.

* * *

Dinner was silent.

Aguri watched in helplessness as Kaede and Karma didn't exchange a glance and the redhead ignoring the blunet. She had thought that everything went smoothly since Kaede came back and simply asked her to help her with the homework and teach her how to read in English and Japanese.

But it seemed she had assumed wrongly.

Nagisa didn't seem to be too bothered by it, since he was eating like usual, but Aguri noticed how sometimes his hand itched towards one of the two and would stop in the middle, deflate and return to its owner's side. It was clear he wanted to comfort the two, and Aguri's heart went out to him.

"So how did you sleep, Nagisa?" She asked the boy in hopes of distracting him from the others. Blue eyes looked up to her then to the rice bowl, then he shrugged and kept eating, hissing here and there. Aguri smiled sadly at that, seems like he still wasn't able to speak.

"Karma, maybe you want to tell me what has been bothering you?" She tried a different approach. The redhead looked up, a bit surprised at being addressed, but quickly gathered himself and grinned.

"This whole idea of me being stuck as a human, and a child at that," The grin turned to a scowl, "And now having to deal with those two."

Nagisa perked up and turned to Karma, setting down his bowl and reaching out to Karma, fingers stretched out. The redhead froze and was about to scoot back when he was stopped by Kaede's hand on his chair.

"Just… just let him," Kaede shook her head, "Even if he can't speak, he is stuck in the same situation as us and wants to make the best out of it. Give him a chance."

Karma growled at her before turning to the approaching fingers just as they settled on the corners of his mouth.

"What the—" The fingers pressed into his skin harshly and stretched it up, making his mouth curl up to an unnatural smile. Karma blinked and his gaze turned to a disgusted expression. He was about to swat the insulting fingers away when Nagisa opened his mouth and made a small hissing noise that…

"Ssss… mmm…. lllll…." Everyone froze.

Did Nagisa just… speak?

"N-Nagisa, what did you just say?" Kaede choked out. Nagisa looked at her in confusion, dropping his fingers from Karma's mouth as he regarded the girl.

"Sss…" Nagisa started then grimaced and coughed, "Mmm… lll… sss…!" His eyes widened and he touched his throat, mouthing something but then all that came out was a soft hiss. His shoulders drooped and he frowned.

"Was it supposed to be 'smile'?" Aguri wondered and the blunet nodded immediately.

"You… you copied the same thing I did this morning to cheer Karma up…" Kaede said to the blunet in awe, the meaning of her words not lost on Karma, who narrowed his eyes at her, snarling.

"I'm not buying that."

"Oh, relax, goddy," Kaede smiled more confidentially now, "Nagisa had used his first words to comfort you. I think he means it and that's the closest thing to an apology that you'll get with him."

Nagisa wriggled his fingers, Karma watching him warily, standing up when Nagisa attempted to reach him with his fingers again. "No touching me, limbless," He shot to the blunet, stomping to the couch, lying on it and closing his eyes.

Kaede watched him, a relieved chuckle leaving her mouth, warmth bubbling in her stomach. Aguri, who was too blown away, managed to find her own voice and smiled uncertainly.

"Why are you relieved? Are you three on better terms now?"

The hazel eyed girl smiled back, "Yep… something like that."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Aguri decided to clear the table and went into the kitchen, noticing Kaede silently telling Nagisa to stay there before following her, a glint in her eyes.

She just hoped it's not something bad again.

"Aguri?" Kaede interrupted her thoughts and the woman startled a bit, smiling back to the girl in reassurance.

"Yes?"

"Well…" The greenette rocked from the heel of her feet to the balls of her toes, suddenly shy. "To be honest, I wanted to ask you this yesterday, but I forget and this little dispute at dinner reminded me of that."

"What did you want to ask?"

"Well, what is the thing with 'siblings' in the human world?" Kaede started, "It's so unusual for fairies to know if they are blood related that we consider everyone in our village a family so the sibling term is something not so casually used…"

"Why is it unusual?" Aguri seemed fascinated but at the same time uneasy and Kaede couldn't blame her really.

"Well, we fairies are born from flowers," Kaede elaborated, "The female and her mate would find a piece of land and plant there a seed made from a piece of the two's hair, earth and water, and then when the flower will grow, they will carry its pollen to a field of flowers and spread it through the air. Our village use the clover field, which is one of the reasons I was called 'Green Flower'."

"One of the reasons?"

"Well, most of the name comes from the shape of our wings when we are born. My wings looked like two green hued petals," Kaede smiled wistfully. Aguri stared at her and after a moment cleared her throat, bringing the girl back to the present.

"And this is why it's hard for the fairies to know if they're related, since the pollen doesn't stick to one known flower?"

"Yes," Kaede nodded.

"Then why do it?" She had an idea, but she could be wrong...

"Well… because it's for survival."

Of course it is.

"And also because it's always a delight to hear the fledglings roam the village," Kaede smiled warmly. Aguri could relate to that, the reason why she didn't quit teaching despite being one for many years already.

"Anyways," The girl took a deep breath, "So… how is it that you know?"

Aguri turned beet red, which made her raise a brow in inquiry. "Aguri? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" The woman quickly said. "It's just… well…" The woman trailed off, "Humans… procreate by… uh…" She took a deep breath and explained _very_ shortly of the procreating process, or at the idea. Kaede was chuckling at her horrified expression, not perturbed by the idea for some reason.

"So like animals, no?" She asked innocently. Aguri sputtered but at the end had to agree since it is exactly like them, her lips a bit pursed since she didn't really like the comparison.

"So you actually know who the siblings are since they are really blood related…" Kaede smiled, "That's… pretty nice. So this is a family in the human world."

"Well, that's the traditional family," Aguri shrugged after regaining her calm, "But adopted children or even very close friends are a family. A family is a place you can go back to at the end of the day and feel that you came home."

"So like you," Kaede blurted out then blushed furiously and slapped a hand to her mouth, eyes wide with mortification.

Aguri's cheeks colored and a very pleased smile blossomed on her face, eyes brightening up, "Like me?"

Kaede looked down, nodding after a moment. "It's been a while since someone… accepted me and let me into their lives. I… I want to stay with you and I want to stay with Nagisa and even Karma. It's something I have never felt before…" She sniffled and rubbed her eyes with her arm, shoulders quivering. Aguri took a step towards her and enveloped her into an embrace.

"I'm so happy to hear that," The woman said softly, "Because even knowing you for only two days… I feel that I have found something that I never thought I needed."

"Really?" Kaede looked up in surprise, mouth hung open in a small 'o'. Aguri nodded.

"I love my students but they have their own families, and when I returned home each day I came back to an empty house. But now I return to the three of you, and it made me realize how… lonely I have been.

I didn't want to admit it nor did I want to think about it, but… I do want you to stay as well."

"So like siblings without the blood relation," Kaede begun to smile, eyes hopeful, "Karma is the older brother since he's obviously older than me and Nagisa, and Nagisa can be the younger brother since he needs so much help."

"Yes!" Aguri agreed with a laugh, "And I'm the big sister since I am the teacher."

Kaede laughed as well, "Okay, Aguri-nee."

Both froze and separated, Aguri blinking at the shorter girl before breaking into a giant grin with a light teasing glint. "Yes, Kaede?"

She got her desired effect. Kaede exploded into red and she apologized, flailing a bit until she was cut off by the woman's loud laughter and a pat to her head.

"You can call me that, Kaede."

"O-okay… Aguri-nee," Kaede mumbled with a blush.

Aguri smiled warmly. "Thank you."

"No… thank you." Tears fell from hazel eyes as Kaede grinned happily, some pieces of her broken soul moving to meld together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	8. And the Tears Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the short chapter, but the scene after the end of the chapter is a new part so had to cut it there.
> 
> finally my rewriting block was lifted and i seem to write normally now (except for a limp here and there, but i'm still getting used to writing properly after a week of nothing)
> 
> p.s. i also added a side story to the 'i am a snake' story, so please check it out and review on it ^^
> 
> enjoy^^
> 
> so my life is trying to ruin me once again, the army not being helpful as well and the process i'm going through is basically me trying to not to drown while searching for ways to advance with no help whatsoever from them...
> 
> update: now any progress i had with my family's situation had gone to the drain and was burned there. something happened and now it's really bad. not to me, but i had to be the witness to that. *sighs* i'm just so tired... i just can't handle this anymore.
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. i miss Nagisa! someone draw me some nagisa being the badass he is!

"You seem happy," Karma noted when Kaede entered the living room, still not looking at her, "Is my suffering that much of a reason to rejoice?"

"Oh, you care for Nagisa, admit it already," Kaede giggled, glowing with joy, "You are trying so hard to maintain the tough guy image even when it's clear that you aren't."

"Huh? What has gotten into you?" Karma looked at her with a raised brow, probably wondering if she was going mad.

She giggled. "Even Aguri-nee agreed with me on that that you're like an older brother to our poor little Nagisa."

"Aguri-nee?" Karma smirked, "Someone adopted them a big sister?"

"Yes," Kaede agreed confidentially, "Aguri-nee and I talked and we can stay here as a family."

"A family, huh…" Karma's smirk dimmed a bit and Kaede noticed that, her smile fading as she glanced at the sleeping blunet by the table and then pushed Karma's legs off the couch and sat on the clear space, bringing her knees to her chest and circled her arms around them.

"What is it, Karma? You have been subdued today."

"Well, all this bullshit about family is making me annoyed," Karma rested his chin on his open palm, elbow positioned on the armrest.

"I never heard you talk about your family," Kaede wondered out loud, "Did you have parent gods or something?"

Karma shrugged. "Well, I'm the lesser known son of Loki, overshadowed by Hel and Fenrir. I was close to Odin's son, Thor and my…" He trailed off.

"Your?"

"Ugh, my stupid old man decided that the humans are too rowdy so he birthed a big serpent that circled the earth and told them that the day that serpent would release his tail, the world would end."

"Loki birthed him… that serpent was your brother?!" Kaede gaped at him, "It's possible for a snake and god to be brothers?"

"We're gods, greenie, of course it's possible," Karma grumbled, "Old man was a shape shifter after all. Hel had a human form, but Fenrir was a wolf."

"So that's why you're so hesitant towards Nagisa," Kaede smirked, "He reminds you of your brother."

"What? No!" Karma growled at her, eyes dulling, "He's nothing like him. Limbless is just a baby."

Kaede cackled, glad to finally have some leverage over the prankster. "Oh, you really do care, that's why you noticed things that Aguri-nee and I didn't, you pay close attention to him."

"Shut up, will you?" Karma growled, cheeks colored with deep red from embarrassment and anger, "I don't care about limbless and will never be. I'm going to sleep," He stood up and stalked to their room, ignoring Kaede's laughter.

He entered the room and closed the door behind him, finally letting himself slam his fist to the wall, chin quivering as he laid his forehead on his clenched white fist, hot furious tears falling to the floor.

He slowly sled onto his knees, back hunched and his free hand clenching the shirt over his heart.

"Jormungand," He choked out.

* * *

Aguri woke up that night to whines and hisses. Blearily, she reached for the desk clock and squinted her eyes at it.

_2:47 A.M._

It's too early, she yawned and fell back to the bed, bolting out of it when she heard the noise again, and realizing that it belonged to Nagisa.

What happened? She quickly made her way to the guest bedroom, opening it and peeking inside, her face paling.

Kaede and lump Karma were there, sleeping soundly. But there was a little bit of a mess where Nagisa fell asleep on and most importantly, it was empty.

She heard the hisses again and set out again, rushing to where the noise came from, all sleepiness vaporizing from her in the face of the possiblly distressed blunet.

She stopped at the living room, noticing the moonlight shining into the entrance through the door glass, illuminating loose soft blue locks.

Nagisa was sitting on the raised platform cross-legged, hissing at something and sometimes a whine would sneak in. Aguri frowned and approached the blunet, startling when she bumped into the tea table.

Nagisa jolted and turned to her, blue eyes bright with a strange light before they deemed and he seemed to relax, turning back to the door, the moonlight giving him an ethereal look, as if he was a ghost…

Suddenly scared of the thought, she rushed to him, dropped onto her knees and gathered him into her arms. Nagisa hissed in surprise and struggled a bit until she released him and sat down next to him, a big exhale of relief leaving her mouth at the affirmation of his solidness.

"What are you doing here so late at night?" She asked, taking deep breaths to calm her pounding heart, "You gave me quite a scare there, Nagisa."

Nagisa shrugged sheepishly and brought his knees to his chest, resting his chin on them, mouthing things quietly.

"Were you… trying to speak?" She guessed. He nodded and frowned, hissing softly which ended in a whine. "Well, try to repeat the words you said before, the 'smile' one."

Nagisa looked at her then down again, opening and closing his mouth as if suddenly wary of the action. Aguri figured it would be since he wasn't pleased with the fact that he can't communicate with them the way they would understand.

"Even if you don't manage it at first," She started, looking forward as to not pressure the boy, "If you keep at it and try your best, eventually you would be surprised how easier it would become, so don't be afraid of trying. You'll probably fail many times, but the brave will stand up each time and try again."

Nagisa's eyes bore into her side but she kept looking forward, "Here, for example, Kaede came to me today and apparently we had become something akin to a family without me noticing. I was very scared of letting you three stay here, that with you believing of being different than human. Now, I don't know if you're telling the truth or if you are simply insane, but somehow… I stopped thinking of you three as something to get rid of as quickly as possible to three people I would want to have in my life. Before that happened I was scared of committing myself to someone that wasn't my students. I let myself give in once and the man I chose was a terrible, terrible man. He was selfish, arrogant and a sadist. When I realized who I ended up with, I cut all ties and came here, trying to run away from the memories and so was scared to let anyone into my private life. But you three came and without even thinking, you let me believe that I don't have to be alone again. So despite being hurt in the past, I stood up and here I am now, you three stuck as my siblings."

She finished the small speech with a contemplative gaze, slowly turning to the blunet, who was staring at her with wide eyes and a pursed mouth.

"I guess that was a bit too depressing, no?" Aguri chuckled.

Nagisa blinked and hung his head down, his hair falling to hide his face. She wondered if she said too much when a soft whine came out, cut off by an angry hiss.

She watched as Nagisa tried to make a noise different from his hisses, her heart swelling at the sight of the boy trying his best to be understood and she made a soft noise herself to encourage the boy.

"Sss… zzszz…" Nagisa's head shot up and he made the noise again, "Zzssz… mmm… nnmnnn…"

"You did it!" Aguri exclaimed. He jolted and closed his mouth. She smiled widely at his apprehension, "You made a new noise! See? I told you it would pay off."

Nagisa looked down and his mouth opened only to close when a splash was heard. His eyes blinked and looked up to her in question as more splashes were heard. Aguri gazed into his eyes and smiled sadly, reaching out to wipe his cheek. "Why are you crying, Nagisa?"

He tilted his head in confusion. "You don't know what crying is?" He shook his head, fingers coming up to catch a rolling tear, examining it in awe. She chuckled softly, "Crying is when you feel strong emotions. Do you feel really happy?"

He bit his lip and nodded, more tears coming down as his body shook. He curled tighter, burying his face in his knees. She moved closer and circled her arms around him, rocking him in a calming rhythm until he released one hand and clutched at her sleeve, pushing so he can look up, his eyes dry but searching for something.

Her lips curled up fondly. "How about I teach you how to cook since you like my food so much?" She said in hopes of distracting him.

It took him a moment, but at the end, he nodded and uncurled, crossing his legs and gripping his ankles, rocking himself forward and backward, looking around and fixating on the moonlight, a bit calmer.

"What are you looking at?" He gestured with his nose to the window, eyes glowing.

"Do you like the night, Nagisa?" She asked him after a moment of silence. He shrugged. "How about the moon?" A shrug again, then he reconsidered and shook his head. "Why not?" He shivered and hissed in warning, his nails biting into his skin. She panicked and pried them from his ankles, observing the indents in the skin, which thankfully was not pierced.

"You shouldn't harm yourself," She flicked his forehead softly, "You need to take better care of yourself. Understood?"

He blinked and tilted his head, frowning a bit even when he was nodding. Aguri narrowed her eyes at that.

"I hope you weren't used to hurting yourself before coming here." He shook his head at that and her shoulders drooped, then internally smacked her head; he is too innocent to do that, what is she thinking to herself?

"Are you feeling better?" She ended up asking the blunet, "We talked so much and it's a school day tomorrow so we really should get to sleep… although you'll probably be sleeping the day away as usual," She giggled.

Nagisa made a small hissing noise and she smiled at him, "Don't worry, I'm not angry. I just find it extremely amusing and fascinating. How much were you sleeping before here anyways?"

Nagisa shrugged, and Aguri was either hallucinating or she was really seeing a small twitch on his lips. Was he trying to smile?

"I guess that it doesn't matter," She chuckled and stood up, helping him get up on his feet and slowly wobble his way to the hall and through it until they stood in front of the guest room's open door. She patted his hair and wished him a good night, turning to leave when her sleeve was yanked.

She frowned at the blunet, who seemed a bit apprehensive. "What is it Nagisa?"

Said boy looked at her then back at the door, his fist tightening around her sleeve and suddenly she understood.

She smiled softly and gently pried his fingers off the material and held the hand. "You want to sleep in my bed for tonight?" He nodded, seeming like a little child at the moment and she sighed playfully. "Alright, but just for once, okay?"

She closed the door and led him to the end of the hall towards the last door. She opened the door and peeked inside, letting out an exhale of relief. She had actually cleaned it up earlier that week so it wasn't too messy. She let Nagisa enter as she scavenged the floor for her sleepwear before remembering that she was already wearing them. Chuckling at her own clumsiness, she climbed to the bed and patted the spot on the opposite side. Nagisa quickly sat on the bed and curled, closing his eyes and falling asleep as quickly as she could blink.

She was left blinking in astonishment at the boy before laughing and pulling the blanket up, covering both of them. She turned on her right side, facing away from him and closed her eyes.

She jolted when she felt a hand clutch her shirt, then laughed silently when she realized that it was simply Nagisa.

"They really will be the end of me…" She joked and fell asleep.

Blue eyes opened when her breaths deepened, glowing in the darkness as the blunet trembled, silent drops dropping onto the mattress.

* * *

"Nagisa, don't disappear on us like that, I thought Karma got rid of you," Kaede joked the next morning when she spotted Nagisa tottering past the guest door just as she exited. She smiled innocently and waved cheekily when he jumped and snapped around to her, hissing in alarm, "Morning."

"Mmmm… rrr... nnn…" He forced out, noise ending in a harsh hiss. He frowned and looked down, fingering his shirt and rocking on his toes in discomfort.

"Thank you," Kaede figured he was trying to greet her back and looped her arm around his, pulling him towards the living room, "Let's go get you filled up."

Nagisa stopped and shook his head, gesturing with his head to Aguri's room.

"You want to wait for Aguri-nee?" She asked and he nodded, raising his fingers and wiggling them as if trying to get a feel for them. Kaede smiled in sympathy, it probably was still difficult for him to get used for his new human form.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to your new body soon, alright?" He blinked in surprise and after considering it, he nodded.

"Ah, Nagisa, ready to start?" Aguri emerged from her room, smiling brightly. Nagisa's eyes lit up and he nodded more vigorously than before. Kaede gaped at him as he slipped out her hold and followed Aguri. She was still gawking when the door behind her opened and Karma stepped into the hall, watching her in bemusement.

"How about not blocking my way, greenie? And close your mouth, a fly would try to get in there," He nudged her back with his foot, his hands buried in his pockets.

"Karma…" Kaede looked at him, ignoring his actions, "Nagisa rejected me."

"About time," Karma wasn't impressed and nudged her again, "Just go and eat your pity party food and let me get my own food."

She pouted. "You should be comforting me."

"Why? Where the fun in that?" He grinned and lowered his leg, opting to reach out and pick the girl up by the collar, the girl flailing as she nearly slipped from the shirt to the floor.

"Put me down, you damn prankster!" She demanded.

"With pleasure." He cackled and released her, walking away from her indignant and flustered shouts as she fell on her back, the shirt tangling her limbs.

"I'll get you one day!"

"Good luck with that," He smirked.

That was payback. And karma is known to be a bastard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	9. Do You Want To-?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i'm in italy currently and since i didn'y want you guys to wait i put everything in a file and uploaded the minute i got wifi so i hope you guys will enjoy this chapter ^^
> 
> so i guess you can call it a new arc? oh well, as long as the chapter is good who cares, right? *chuckle*
> 
> enjoy ^^
> 
> p.s. (From Sunday) okay, this is getting really ridiculous. my rl just had gotten worse again after two-three weeks of break and now i want to tear my hair out and i had an anxiety attack (which griewer helped me greatly through, thank god) i really don't know what to do anymore and honestly, you guys are what keeping my walking. the fact that you love this story so much gives me reason to keep moving since i have to write this story, i want to make my readers happy. so just by reading the fic, you already made me so much happier ^^
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. i miss Nagisa! someone draw me some nagisa being the badass he is!

"I can't deal with it anymore…" Aguri groaned three days later, sprawled over the table at the teacher lounge during lunch.

"Wow, didn't expect to hear that from you, sensei." Black eyes looked up in surprise and landed on a tall lanky figure with dirty blond hair and small eyes wearing a simple white tee, blue jeans and a white bandana standing at the entrance, smiling goofily at her and raising his hand, a delivery box dangling from it. Her surprised expression quickly melted to a warm smile and sparkling eyes as she stood up to greet her guest.

"I can't believe it's you," She exclaimed excitedly, "You have grown so much!"

"Sensei, we saw each other last at the class' reunion," The person laughed, "Bust since you flattered me so much – still looking as young as ever, eh? What's your secret?"

"Now, now, Muramatsu, this is a secret for a reason, especially for men," The person now identified as Muramatsu grinned at her as he walked into the room, placing the delivery metal box on the table. Aguri sat down and smiled warmly at the man.

"So how are business? I heard the latest recipe was all the talk in the neighborhood."

"Oh, everything is as great as usual," Muramatsu glowed in pride, "I am opening a third store in Akihaba and invented a new recipe, which coincidentally I brought today to share with you."

"Oh, you didn't have to," Aguri playfully said, putting the metal compartment on the table and sliding the side up. The she took out the still hot ramen bowl, and gratefully grabbed the chopsticks from the man. "I'm really happy to hear that, Muramatsu, and is honored to be the Guinea pig," She teased him.

"Now, don't phrase it that way…" He groaned, "I feel like Itona is sitting next to me."

She laughed and took some noodles and put them in her mouth, nearly melting in her place, expression shifting to one of bliss.

"This is so good~" She sighed happily, eyes opening to glare at the sniggering man.

"You're the best indicator, sensei! I knew this recipe was good; ha! Take that, Itona! Only Yoshida was on my side this time, shorty kept telling me that it's the usual."

"Itona loves your cooking," Aguri chuckled, "He just likes to rile you up. Have Terasaka talk to him."

"Nah, Terasaka would have my hide if I bother his bro," Muramatsu smirked. The two lapsed into a content silence as the woman finished the dish, one last happy noise leaving her lips as she put the bowl away and stretched.

"I really needed this, thank you," She grinned at the young man, "So what have you been up to lately besides being antagonized by Itona?"

"Well, Hara demanded another match," He sighed annoyingly, "She hates that we're in a tie for the… I stopped counting, to be honest. Also, Hazama is now next in line to inherit the book shop."

"That's nice," Aguri said fondly, "You guys had been up to so much since middle school."

"Well, of course; wouldn't want to disappoint our best teacher, no?" He sounded like every time she said that; grateful and worried.

"You're making me proud just by being yourselves," And she said the same thing she did each time, "You were my best students."

"We were your first, sensei," He shrugged. "We were blessed in every way."

"Now don't sound like I'm dying here, young man," She scolded him and he laughed.

Soon, he sobered and turned to her, eyes furrowed in worry. "What happened? You never gave up on any E class no matter how hard it seemed. Ten years and still going strong, so what is different this time?"

Aguri sighed and leaned back in her chair, putting her palms over her eyes. "It's not my students… they are amazingly like you. Though, to be honest, it's only been a month since the start of the year and they still struggle with the bullying and putting effort without giving up."

"So what happened?" He folded his arms, tilting his head slightly in inquiry, brows still furrowed.

"I… might be in a slight problem," She confessed, knowing he was stiffening despite not looking at him, "Not life threatening, but life-changing no doubt."

He kept quiet and she was thankful for that. "I may have picked up… three strays."

"Oh, that's nice," He commented, "Finally someone to fill the house."

"Muramatsu, don't interrupt your teacher," She shook her head in amusement and he apologized, "It's okay…

Anyways, the three strays are kids… around fifteen I would figure and either runaways or psychologically challenged since they are convinced that they used to be those non-human creatures before something happened and they ended up in a pile outside my house."

"If I may, sensei," Muramatsu started, "But why not send them back?"

"Because they are saner than any person I had ever met in my life. They believe in total nonsense but they are not oblivious nor insane. They adapt quickly and are fascinated by 'our' world. And before knowing it… I became wanting to stay with them."

"So they grew on you," He noted.

She chuckled. "Could be. Though it's putting me in a bind."

"Why?"

"Because I want to adopt them legally," She confessed with a sigh, "And I don't know anything about them. Heck, I don't even their real identities since I can't count on their word. Not to mention that my teacher salary might not be enough to sustain the four of us..."

"Are you certain you want to keep them?" He asked. "They seem like more trouble than worth."

"Muramatsu," She held his gaze with confidence, "Even if they are the children of the Yakuza, I just know that I want to be their family. I don't know where it came from, but they…" She blinked back her tears and took a deep breath, "They filled something I didn't realize was empty. They need me and I need them, I don't want to lose them. If you had met them, you would have known."

Muramatsu stared at her for a long time, then rested his forehead on his palm and sighed heavily. "Alright."

She perked up and smiled brightly. "Thank you."

"But first I want to see them," He smirked weakly, "I don't doubt you, but I have to check them out first."

"Well, lucky for you, two of them are here," Aguri nodded in agreement, "Nagisa is sleeping at home."

"I thought the three of them were the class' age," Muramatsu's brow rose.

"Well, he can't really walk properly and his speech is nearly nonexistent," Aguri admitted sheepishly."

He stared at her incredulously. "What do they claim to be again?"

"Karma claims to be the prankster god, son of Loki. Kaede called herself Green Flower and is a fairy. Nagisa is a snake."

"That's quite a variety," Muramatsu blinked, "Though it would explain the last one's actions."

"Yeah," She chuckled and stood up, "Well, lunch is nearly over and I don't want to arouse any suspicion."

"I am a perfectly non suspicious man," Said man gasped as if hurt by her accusation. Aguri gave him a knowing smirk before turning and exiting the teacher lounge.

They walked around the building just as Kaede and Kurahashi rose from their usual lunch spot by the trees. Aguri caught Kaede's eye and motioned her to come. The greenette nodded and waved to her friend before jogging to the two adults, eyeing Muramatsu warily, the gaze not softening even when he grinned and waved to her good-naturedly.

"What is it, Agri-nee?" Kaede said, not looking away from the man. Muramatsu blinked and turned to Aguri, who seemed a bit bashful.

"Aguri-nee?"

"My father is her uncle," Kaede elaborated, "She's my family."

Now Aguri was blushing and Muramatsu was doing everything in his power not to laugh out loud and instead nodding with respect to her claim.

Aguri finally managed to collect herself and gestured to the man with a shaky smile. "This is Muramatsu Takuya. He was one of my students and a former class 3-E student."

"Oh…" Kaede blinked and nodded in greeting, her suspicion fading but still there, "Nice to meet you, Muramatsu-san."

"Likewise," The man bowed his head slightly, "I just came to greet my old teacher since Yukimura-sensei was a very important figure for my class."

That had bought the girl; she smiled widely at him and nodded in agreement before bidding him goodbye and running back to the class.

Aguri turned to the apprehensive man. "Well?"

"Well, I think I understand now what you meant by 'crazy but sane' mentality…" He groaned, "Fine, I'll contact Yada and ask her to search their identities. She just got promoted to some senior position in the Defense Ministry so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Thank you, Muramatsu. I really appreciate it," Aguri bowed to the man, who seemed a bit flustered.

"Don't bow to me, Yukimura-sensei, this is nothing compared to what you had given us. We're just returning the favor."

"I was your teacher," Aguri shook her head but straightened up, "It was my duty. You're choosing out of your free will to help me on a case that could mean trouble for you."

Muramatsu grinned and shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, sensei. You saved us and we decided to help you if ever the need arises. The time has come," He said dramatically but genuinely, "Let us help you, Yukimura-sensei."

Aguri regarded him for a long time before sighing and nodding. "Thank you."

"Anytime," The grin was back. The man then waved her goodbye and walked away, disappearing in the woods. Aguri stared at his retreating back and smiled to herself; she was really lucky.

Well, time to teach a class. Her future can wait.

* * *

 

"Who was that?" Karma asked Kaede when she sat down. The girl eyed him then shrugged.

"I won't ask how you found out, but apparently he was one of Aguri-nee's students and he came to check on her."

"… That's nice…" Karma huffed and returned to his notebook, scanning it and adding lines with his pencil.

"What are you doing?" She eyed him suspiciously, "I hope it won't bother Aguri-nee."

"Bother? You wound me, greenie," He rolled his eyes, his smirk not fading and head not moving from their position, "I'm simply perfecting Nakamura's idea."

"Sometimes I really hate you…"

"Now you flatter me. Perhaps flatter me more and it would heal my wounded heart," Karma cackled and swatted Kaede's hand when she tried to smack him. "Don't harm my head, I'm trying to think."

"Well, I don't want you to."

"Now the heart is wounded beyond saving."

"Oh, hush now. Your heart is fine and pumping," Kaede chuckled. Then after Karma simply grinned she sighed, "I wonder how Nagisa is doing?"

"Sleeping as usual or creating a mess," Was all Karma's answer, "I'm just glad I don't have to deal with him."

"Oh, please, you adore him. I saw you that morning when we realized that he wasn't in bed."

"I'm going to repeat my claim; who. The fuck. Cares?"

"You."

"No, and now leave me alone," Karma then proceeded to ignore her the rest of the lesson, leaving her to stare at the board and trying to make sense out of it.

* * *

"Don't." Was the first thing she said when she saw him later that day at home. Dull golden eyes narrowed on her and a smirking mouth turned down in a scoff.

"You are killing all the fun," Karma grumbled and cut the rope he was tying to heaven knows where.

"Good," Kaede interlaced her fingers behind her back in satisfaction, "Besides, how did you even get the rope?"

"Well, I was thinking about this really great prank when I looked down and saw a rope rolling from out of an equipment door which just happened to be next to me. The thing is old, let me tell you." He was now turning pensive, "I think that other than our senses, some of our abilities did stick with us."

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, my ability was to conjure anything I wanted from picturing their essence. It's not exactly the same, but anytime I needed something, especially when it came to pranking people, I would find it shortly after by a stroke of luck."

"Huh… it doesn't have to mean anything," Kaede eyed him in disbelief, "I can't fly."

"No, but you are quick on your feet and your fingers are nimble in a way that is impossible for a human. I heard Aguri mention that a few times actually."

"Now I believe you," Kaede shrugged and chuckled, "That's truly a nice thing to know. What do you think Nagisa still has?"

"Well, he's still a limbless idiot, no?" Karma smirked. Kaede threw a piece of rope at him which he sidestepped and grabbed it, overlooking it with a dark grin. She narrowed her eyes, "Don't you dare."

"But I really want to~" He retorted. Her gaze hardened but he was simply grinning back.

"Aguri-nee would be disappointed in you," She tried a last ditch approach.

Karma deflated a bit and Kaede smirked, knowing that he was feeling somewhat grateful for the woman for giving them a place despite not knowing them.

"Oh well, I won't do it…" He pouted.

"Oh thank heaven—"

"Since I don't want to ruin the house," Karma's smirk came back tenfold at Kaede indignant squawk.

"I hope you two aren't fighting, I have enough to deal with the boys," Aguri's voice filtered into their conversation and they looked up to see said woman approach the table with an amused smile while…

"Nagisa?" Kaede asked in astonishment. The blunet was carrying a tray of macaroni and cheese; covered with an apron, hair tied to a high ponytail and bangs clipped to the side, looking sheepish as he hissed in acknowledgement.

"Did you cook it?" She asked tentatively, brightening up when he nodded, "That's amazing!"

"Oh no, I can already see the bathroom," Karma teased, rolling his eyes at the glare the greenette sent him.

A soothing hand landed on her shoulder. "Oh, don't worry, I think he wouldn't be able to stop when he starts, Nagisa has really improved since he started," Aguri intercepted as she placed her other hand on Karma's shoulders and pushed them both gently to sit down. Kaede and Karma shared challenging stares as the tray was placed before them.

Nagisa sat down as well, hand itching to the hairclips only to be swatted by Aguri, who gave him a playful glare. "No, Nagisa, you don't want to have hair in your food. We really should get your hair cut."

"Why? I like it," Kaede piped in, scooping a big spoonful of the macaroni and putting some in her mouth. She chewed it and swallowed before smiling widely and whooped. "I won!"

"Won what?" Aguri was confused.

"Damn it," Karma clicked his tongue.

"Language."

"Shut it."

"Karma!"

"What?"

Nagisa was looking between them, frowning before opening his mouth.

"No!"

And once again, everyone froze and turned to the annoyed blunet with gaping mouths.

"Again?" Kaede said after a moment.

"No!" Nagisa repeated himself before noticing and blinking, "No… no… no! No!"

"Shut up!" Karma shouted back.

"He finally learned a new word, Karma, let him be," Kaede huffed.

"And stop taking his side, he was giving me headaches," Karma retorted back, lips pulled back to a snarl.

"Now, now, stop fighting and start eating." Aguri's tone left no room for arguments so with a last glare, the two sat back and begun eating. Aguri turned to Nagisa and frowned, "I wondered what changed…"

Nagisa blinked at her then shrugged and his fingers twitched before he shook his head and went back to his food, a small frown on his face.

"Ugh, I'm full…" Kaede exclaimed as she flopped on the couch, scooting to give Nagisa space. Karma eyed the only spot free which was by Nagisa and sighed, sitting down as well.

"So why are we here? We have a bed, you know."

"But it's for sleeping," Kaede whined, stretching over the armrest with Nagisa curled with his head over her lap. Karma eyed the blunet's legs with distaste, vowing to kick the blunet off the couch if he even dares to touch him with those feet.

"We have a table and chairs with more personal space."

"But I hate chairs…" Kaede pouted. Karma's eyes narrowed, she was trying to do something here.

"Okay, what are you doing?" Hazel eyes blinked innocently before the girl smirked at him.

"Just trying to have a little bonding time since we are too hostile towards each other according to Aguri-nee. Poor Nagisa is left alone at home and could use a big brother to help with the loneliness."

Karma gave her a look that showed that he wasn't buying it. "Please, limbless sleeps the whole day without even noticing us gone. And besides, I'm not his big brother and you probably can pass for his grandmother or something."

"Huh?" Kaede was baffled, "I'm a very young fairy, thank you very much. No grandmother until at least six hundred summers had passed."

"I see, well gods can actually be grandparents at two weeks," Karma said with a roll of his eyes, "Really throws the whole age thing into a mess."

"Your world sounds so weird," Kaede laughed, "Not that the humans make more sense. I mean, at forty-fifty they can become grandparents."

"Remember that they also die at around a hundred," Karma added. Then he froze and turned to glare at Nagisa, "I'm going to kill you."

Kaede looked down as well and begun laughing. Nagisa had his legs over Karma's knees, his blue eyes wide with innocence but Karma could swear he saw some mischief glinting in them.

"You bastard…" He growled and pushed the legs off him, pushing further to make Nagisa roll over. With a yelp, the blunet rolled to the floor and immediately sat up, lunging at the redhead, who flung himself over to the back of the couch.

"Guys!" Kaede called the two, but was ignored as the two glared daggers at each other from both sides of the couch. The greenette sighed and facepalmed, and here they go again… at least they went back to normal, no?

Nagisa ripped the hair clips off and flung them at the redhead, who ducked behind the couch with a laugh and then stood up to throw a couch pillow at Nagisa.

The former snake jumped away and was snatched by the collar by a bemused woman.

"What did I say about fighting?" Aguri told them a stern tone, eyes darkening with disappointment.

"Not to?" Karma asked playfully. Aguri eyed him, then rolled her eyes, releasing the blunet after he stopped struggling.

"This is not a joke, Karma," She coded him, "You can harm each other and I don't want that. Now, there is still school on Friday so go to sleep."

"Fine~" Karma drawled, losing interest in the current battle and stalking to the guest room, throwing behind him 'By the way, greenie, do not try it again."

"Don't worry, I will," Kaede nodded, smirking when his shoulders hunched in displeasure.

"You three really are like siblings," Aguri sighed as she went to her room, Nagisa following her.

"You have no idea," Kaede laughed and bid the woman and the blunet good night before entering through the door the redhead did, gloating when she saw Karma groan to himself in annoyance.

Later that night, she had roused to see Nagisa entering the room and climbing up to curl between Karma and her and a content smile blossomed on her face as sleep claimed her again.

She loved her new family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any thoughts?  
> P.s. Did it with my iPod so I think there are some formatt problems so I'll go over it again after I return. Okay?


	10. To Figure You Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back from rome (well, since wednsday, but still haven't posted since then, so... hi?) and to be honest, as much as i enjoyed it, i'm not going back there. some things are better... unmentioned... *deadpan*
> 
> enjoy ^^
> 
> p.s. home situation is better, but it's still really tense... *sigh*
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. i miss Nagisa! someone draw me some nagisa being the badass he is!  
> p.s. thank you, matsui-sensei, for more drawings of adult!nagisa, it was extremely adorable!

"So I had a talk with Yada and she will be available on Saturday, which is tomorrow by the way," Muramatsu's voice filtered from the phone speaker Aguri was holding the next morning. The woman was woken up by the insistent ringing and when she had accepted the call, it was the first thing the man had said.

"What?" She yawned and stretched, not coherent enough. She glanced at the clock on her desk and groaned in annoyance. "It's five A.M., caller."

"It's Muramatsu," The man laughed at her rude comment, "And it's so refreshing to meet new sides to you, sensei."

"Muramatsu…" Aguri mulled over the word, feeling that she should know this… oh. She groaned. "Why are you calling me in five in the morning?"

"Well, Yada just phoned me from the airport, she was coming back from visiting some friends in Hokkaido."

"I still stand by my point," Aguri huffed as she stumbled out of her bed and shuffled to search for her work clothes, absentmindedly noting Nagisa's absence from the room.

"Well, I just opened my main shop and am about to get busy so I thought I should let you know before unpacking and starting the preparing will push this out of my mind."

"Now that makes sense," Aguri nodded to herself, fishing socks from under the bed and pulling on her skirt, "So tomorrow, huh…? I'll have to notify the kids."

"Well, if they're really _just_ kids," The man chuckled and she rolled her eyes, imagining his wide grin.

"They are. Unless they can prove their stories true I won't be thinking of them of supernatural beings," Aguri said firmly, not giving any space for the young man to counter her, "Thank you for doing this for me."

"No problem. By the way, Hara was next to Yada when I called so now the others know about the three. Yoshida told me that Terasaka was mumbling under his breath for about an hour after learning it. Itona smacked him good so don't worry about that."

"Oh, that's nice of him," She laughed, "I just hope that Karma won't intimidate him too much."

"Oh, I see you already pick favorites," He teased her, "How can a kid intimidate a fully grown ex-bully?"

"You got me," Aguri joked, "I'll have to make sure Terasaka is well mannered when they meet."

"Nah, Itona got that covered. Hazama told me that she would help if needed. But heed my advice – don't let her, she has been wanting to branch out her audience of occult believers."

"Oh dear…"

"Yes, exactly my point," Muramatsu chuckled, "Anyways, Yada will give me an update after the meeting so don't worry about telling me. Gotta go, see you later, sensei."

"Okay, take care and good luck," Aguri smiled and hung up, the hand holding the phone falling limply next to her as she sighed and fell back on the bed, too awake to go back to sleep so she mulled over the lessons for today and the added concern which is Yada's visit.

"I just hope it'll go well," She mumbled to herself before taking class' homework from her desk and beginning to go over them until it'll be time to officially wake up.

* * *

Karma desperately needed to be back in his world, even if just for a moment. He had to ask the old Odin if he did anything to piss him off again.

Because nothing else would give him the reason he is currently in this situation again.

"Remind me again why I am here?" He forced out from gritted teeth, gaining a certain greenette's attention. The girl grinned and leaned onto the other side, where limbless was staring at him.

"Because we all woke up early again and I wanted to have some bonding time again. Last time was fun."

"I swear, I'm going to make you regret it," He snarled and she widened her eyes for a moment before grinning at him again.

"Not as long as we're in the house, so I'm safe for now."

" _For now_ ," He reminded her, "Can I leave now?"

"Actually," The three turned to their helper, wondering why she was so happy, "I needed you three together, so it's a good thing for me." Aguri dragged a chair from the table and sat in front of them across the tea table.

"Any reason why it feels like we're going to have a serious conversation?" He groaned, already done with it.

"Well, maybe it's because we _are_ going to have a serious conversation," Aguri retorted in amusement, "It's about registering you to the system."

"Regi-what?" Kaede lost her gleeful face and turned thoughtful, eyes twinkling with suspicion, "And what system?"

Aguri stared at her in awe. "Wait, you don't know what 'registration' means?"

They shook their heads. The woman sighed.

"I should have known. Well, registration is putting a record of you in the government, which is like a council who decides how things will go in the village or in this case, the city or country."

"So it's like spying on us," Karma concluded unhappily, "Great."

"It's not spying," Aguri defended hastily but deflated when Karma gave her his 'really?' expression.

"Having a record of us is spying, Aguri, wake up," He added for extra effect, "And I'm not going to do it."

"Well, Karma," Aguri folded her arms and huffed, "If you want to be able to move about in the country and work—"

"She has a good point, Karma," Kaede stopped Aguri's rant, "Didn't we discuss finding ways to help Aguri?"

The woman turned to Karma in confusion. He looked away. "What? We know that what you give us isn't for free."

"What do you mean?"

"Anything and everything has a prize; it's one of nature's most basic laws," He elaborated, "To feed us and to give us a place to live in can't be easy since it costs coins… I think you call it money."

"And we wanted to find a way to repay you and make things easier," Kaede added when Karma didn't seem like he wanted to continue, "So despite not liking the idea of humans knowing of us… I want to help so… we'll do it," She finished, rocking her legs back and forth, uncomfortable.

"Thank you," Aguri was truly touched by their kindness, "I didn't want to bother you with this but I truly appreciate it."

"Why? It's obvious," The redhead grinned, "Won't want you to rue the day you brought us in."

"Karma, I'm not that terrible," She chuckled, "But since you want me to be one, tomorrow my former student—"

"Muramatsu-san?" Kaede tilted her head in question. Karma looked at her and she elaborated, "He's the one who was outside the classroom yesterday."

"Oh."

"—No, not Muramatsu," Aguri shook her head, "A different one. Her name is Yada Toka and she is a government officer who can search if you already exist in the system or not and then register you if you don't."

"And she is coming tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Wow, such a short notice," Karma rolled his eyes and laid his cheek on his palm, annoyed, "Don't want to impose on her important work."

"Karma, be nice. She wants to help us," Kaede poked his shoulder, "Besides, we are currently human so we'll have to abide by their rules."

"I hate nature laws…" He grumbled and pushed her away, making her topple over Nagisa, who hissed in warning. "Oh hush, limbless."

Aguri was giggling and Karma suppressed a smile and opted for a smirk. "So I see that my actions don't give you a bad taste anymore, huh?"

She grinned back. "Not anymore."

"Damn, I was doing them for a reason, you know?" He mock-pouted, but then straightened up and stood up, plucking Kaede from the blunet and throwing her to the taken aback Aguri, "Here, surprised you again."

"You really like doing it, don't you?" She sighed fondly and helped Kaede onto her feet and went to stand Nagisa up.

"…Kk…mma," Nagisa forced out as he stood up, walking to block Karma's way, "No…ii…ngg…"

"Annoying, huh? Glad to know," Karma cackled and pushed the other's head down and slipping past him as Nagisa hissed at him, rubbing his head.

"We should go eat breakfast, no?" Aguri laughed and the four of them walked towards the table.

* * *

The next evening found them waiting in the house for the former student to arrive.

Kaede was fidgeting in her place on the couch, sandwiched between Nagisa and Karma, the former sleeping and the latter staring in boredom at Aguri, who was organizing the things on the table.

"What are you doing?" He asked her. She stopped and turned to him, a sheepish look on her haggard face. There were black circles under her eyes and despite the dark brew in the cup she was holding which smelled strongly like toasted grains, she seemed reluctant to drink it.

"I… I am cleaning, Karma," She said softly, smiling her usual stupid smile. As if he was a child who won't notice anything past a smile.

How naïve and stupid.

"I can _see_ that," He rolled his eyes, "I thought _we_ were the ones being examined here, not you. You're freaking out over nothing. Greenie, on the other hand, does have a reason."

"Are you implying that I'm freaking out?" Kaede snapped at him and he grinned lazily back at her.

"I didn't say that, you did," He drawled, grin widening in satisfaction when she growled in frustration.

"Hmph, you are probably freaking out as well," Kaede looked away, fuming in embarrassment, "I felt your tossing around last night. Even Nagisa was disturbed by that, he was poking your lump for a while."

Karma eyed her then turned to the blunet in question, who was still sleeping, but his brows were furrowed and his fingers kept twitching. He suppressed a growl and leaned back, closing his eyes in an attempt of napping which was taken away by a sound of clicks on the ground approaching the door.

The trio tensed and Kaede gently poked Nagisa, who stirred awake and immediately sat up, eyes narrow and wary, a small hiss leaving his lips.

"Nagisa, you will not hiss in front of Yada," Kaede reprimanded the boy, "We can't have her have a bad impression of you."

Nagisa gave her a look that was bordering on peeved but nodded and curled in his place, head resting on his raised knees.

Aguri straightened up and strode to the door just as knocks resonated in the apartment. Kaede tensed when the handle turned and the door slowly opened to reveal a young woman with long dark brown hair pulled up to a tight bun, sharp purple eyes and a suit consisting of a white button up shirt and black suit pants ending with black heels that had Kaede cringing at the sight. The woman was carrying a big square bag which she passed to Aguri while she exchanged her heels to slippers.

Then finally the two stood in the living room. The trio exchanged looks, wondering why the two seemed tense.

"How have you been doing, Yada?" Aguri was the first to speak. The younger woman looked up, being shorter than the older woman, and gave a nod.

"I have been well, Yukimura-sensei, it's really good to see you. It has been a while," While her tone wasn't a hundred percent friendly, it was warm and familiar.

The tension vanished.

"You'll have to tell me all about it, Muramatsu only said that you got promoted," Aguri slipped back to her bright smiles and friendly inquiries as she led the young woman to the chair across from the couch. Yada answered the questions with a small smile and sat down, her demeanor turning serious as she turned to the trio who were watching the two of them with narrow eyes.

"This is Yada Toka, my former student," Aguri introduce her to the three then turned to said woman and gestured to them, "And those are Karma, Kaede and Nagisa."

"Nice to meet you three," Yada greeted them kindly and apparently Kaede deemed her safe enough, since she relaxed and smiled thinly back. Nagisa eyed his couch mate and then the young woman, not uncurling despite his glare softening.

Karma, in contrast, was still tense and folded his arms. "So let's get on with this."

"Patience, Karma," Yada took back her bag and opened it, searching inside and taking out a pen and a notebook, "I don't want to make errors, so I prefer not to make haste."

Karma huffed, not convinced. Aguri looked over them, then smiled nervously. "I'll go make some tea and snacks, alright? Don't wait for me."

"Thank you, sensei," Yada smiled at the older woman and Aguri smiled in relief before walking to the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

"Yukimura-sensei knows she can't be here while I talk to you," Yada explained when the door closed, noticing the veiled panicked expressions.

"Why not?"

"Because it's the policy."

"Policy? What's that?" Kaede asked in curiosity.

"Policy is procedure law."

"Procedure law?"

"The way to do things," Yada clarified, not seeming deterred by the rain of questions.

"So what now?" Karma asked. "Are you checking if we're mental?"

"Mental?" Kaede inquired. "You mean like Aguri described us at first?"

"Yes, only this time if they'll say we are, they'll get rid of us."

"Get… rid?" The greenette squeaked, going pale. "But… but we can still help! We are not a liability!"

"You two, calm down," Yada sighed, "No one is getting rid of you. I came here to make certain that you won't need to be sent away."

"Where?"

"Why do you want to know, Karma?" Yada fired back in interest, "Do you think you're mental?"

Golden glare was her answer. "No, I do _not_ think I am mental, but it is a known fact that humans don't like different. If they find something different than what they believe is true, they'll get rid of it in any way they can; either be it by destroying it or by sending it away from their notice. Now answer my question, where?"

"I think you are misunderstanding something here," The woman placed one leg over the other, interlacing her fingers and placing the hands over the upper knee, "Although I agree with you on this subject of humanity's flaws, we do not get rid of people we consider 'mental'. We simply send them to a facility, a house, where they can be taken care of and made sure that they won't bring harm to their families or themselves."

"So that settles it," Karma smirks, "We are sane and we don't bring harm, no need to interrogate us. Just create our records and be done with it. Greenie needs to find a work that will accept her smothering presence."

"Are you calling me annoying!?" Kaede pushed his head to the armrest, "At least I don't think I'm such a grand thing."

"Well, I _was_ a god, so I am grander than you," Karma retorted cheekily.

Yada watched them with a faintly amused narrowed eyes, "Now, now, you two, I came here to find out your true identities and if not, create new ones for adoption."

"Adoption…?" Kaede looked away from the banter, "Like being officially…"

"Being a family with Yukimura-sensei, yes." Kaede's face brightened and she grinned at Karma.

"She doesn't want to throw us out!"

"Why would she want to do that, idiot? She was practically begging us to stay," But despite saying that, Yada noticed his shoulders drooping slightly and his glare softening as if relieved. She filed it away and then noticed the blunet's eyes boring into her face. She turned to him and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Hello there, Nagisa, do you want to say something?" She encouraged him and he simply blinked at her, wary.

"Sorry about that, but he doesn't really know how to speak yet…" Kaede explained when Nagisa hissed softly, causing Yada's brows to furrow.

"I see… Well, I would like to know more about you three," She moved on, filing the selective muteness or the deficiency of the speech development, "I need as much information as possible."

"Why should we? You won't believe us," Karma rolled his eyes, "Aguri didn't either."

"Well, despite not believing, I want to know. Perhaps I can draw the truth from the stories," Yada said without batting an eye and Karma seemed amused by that.

"Sure why not?" He smirked darkly, "Well, let's start from the best—"

"You wished," Kaede snorted.

"—the _best_ ," Karma emphasized, "I am Karma, Loki's son and the god of mischief; the prankster at your service. Was doing one of my usual rituals when it went wrong and made the three of us appear here, in human form and without our abilities."

"Interesting, so you're the cause of this situation," Yada noted and he shrugged, turning to the greenette.

"Greenie, your turn."

"Shut up," Kaede pinched his arm then turned to the woman, "Well, my real name is Green Flower, a forest fairy who belonged to the eastern terrain of the Meryn woods. I was… cursed and so exiled from my village… I was alone when this hole yanked me and I found myself here, without the curse and my wings," She said uneasily, obviously omitting parts and sugarcoating the rest, but none of them commented on that, though Karma did glare at Yada in a 'subtle' warning to back off.

"I see, I'm sorry to hear that," Yada replied sympathetically, "But at least now you have those three, no?"

"Yes, I do," Kaede beamed happily, "And I learn so many fascinating things on the humans I never thought possible. You're so silly sometimes but you do have your amazing points."

"Thank you," The woman then regarded the blunet, who still didn't react or even looked away from her, wariness turning colder, "Nagisa, do you want to tell me about yourself?"

"Didn't you hear greenie?" Karma grumbled, "The brat can't talk."

"Well, can you show me through your hands?" The trio blinked at her, "He can do motions with his hands, no? So he can try showing me and I'll try to decipher them."

"Miss, he is a snake," Karma rolled his eyes, "Maybe an abnormal one, but still a snake."

"Abnormal?" Kaede looked at him as if he had grown a second head, "Since when did you figure he wasn't a normal snake?"

"Since the moment I remembered that the ritual was supposed to affect only unnatural beings like magical beings, gods or even spirits."

"What, seriously? What was it supposed to do in the first place?" Hazel eyes bore into Nagisa in curiosity.

"Well, it is a transformation potion," Karma leaned back, resting his cheek on his open palm, "I wanted to use it against the troll tribe to change them to elves and see them wreak havoc as they tried to kill all the 'elves'."

"That's quite violent," Yada remarked. Karma smirked darkly at her, his golden eyes glowing with an unreadable emotion.

"Being a god isn't a child's play, human," He said with a low tone. Nagisa tensed and hissed at him, which in turn got the redhead to look at the blunet, the smirk still in place although the glow faded.

Yada, who shook herself back to focus, cleared her throat, eyeing Karma in a new interest. Kaede groaned into her hands, knowing that they were screwed.

"How about we return to what we were discussing?" She motioned for Nagisa, "If you can't talk, can you try showing through your hands?"

Nagisa switched his eyes from Her to Yada and Karma, who also seemed slightly intrigued, squirming a bit uncomfortably before nodding. Yada told him to continue and so he raised his hands, fidgeting with them for a moment, brows furrowed in concentration before rising and he clasped his hands together flat.

The others blinked and Yada narrowed her eyes, mimicking the motion and deliberating something before asking, "A prayer?"

"A prayer?" Karma cackled, "Oh, please, he's a snake, why would he b—" Nagisa's fervent nodding stopped him and the redhead gaped at the blunet.

"Okay, so he knows about praying… show me another thing," Yada encouraged him and Nagisa glanced at his hands and separated them, making a gesture of throwing something gently in a circular motion.

"Uh… throwing water?" Nagisa shook his head, then reconsidered and shrugged, clasping his hands together again, "Okay, so it is connected to a prayer… is it throwing a coin?" He nodded, his lips twitching.

"Why does it remind me of a shrine…?" The trio jumped when Nagisa immediately nodded, eyes wide with strange emotions and mouth opening in wonder.

"A shrine?!" Karma asked in shock, "You were a shrine freeloader?" Blue eyes narrowed and glared at him, a hiss coming out of his gritted teeth.

"Now, now, Karma, at least we now know more about Nagisa than before, no?" Kaede tried to dissuade the redhead from starting a fight, glancing at Yada in worry of her reaction. To her surprise she only saw a fond expression mingled with nostalgia.

"Say, are you happy with Yukimura-sensei?" Yada asked out of the blue.

The three blinked and exchanged confused looks before Kaede seemed to comprehend her question and smiled.

"Of course," She replied confidentially.

"I guess she is better than any other accommodations," Karma shrugged and swatted Nagisa's hand as said blunet reached to him over the greenette.

"Nagisa?" The blunet froze and turned to the woman, looking over her for a long time before shrugging as well and returning to his place, curling and resting his head on Kaede's lap. The greenette laughed and ruffled the blue hair.

"Poor Nagisa, he is way past his bed time."

"He has bed time?" Karma laughed, "I thought he slept all the time."

"No, he doesn't," Kaede huffed amusingly, "He is awake when we come back from learning."

"Define awake," Karma shot back and Kaede grumbled, knowing she had lost. Nagisa, who didn't seem to be bothered over the clear insult to his actions, yawned and turned to face Kaede's stomach without the girl seeming to mind.

Yada immediately understood what Aguri meant when she breezily mentioned their clear disregard for gender space.

"How are you four getting along?" Aguri's welcomed voice jolted the duo from their bantering and Yada from her observation, the three raising their eyes to see Aguri with a tray of meat slices and rice, "I made dinner."

Nagisa gave a snort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	11. Deductions For The Wrong Species

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE EDITED THE FIRST CHAPTER OF 'I AM A SNAKE. I AM A HUMAN. I AM AN ASSASIN' PLEASE CHECK IT OUT AND TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS!!!
> 
> oh, crap, i don't have material for my 11th chapter after my big writer's block so after the 10th chapter i'm putting on a bonus chapter and then use that time, alright? hope that two weeks would be enough for another chapter.
> 
> update: finished it, but chapter 12 is worse... still a bonus chapter as a weekly update, alright?
> 
> sorry that the recent chapters have been all short chapters. just... it's hard for me to write a lot and i want to stop at specific places so...
> 
> enjoy?
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. i miss Nagisa! someone draw me some nagisa being the badass he is!
> 
> p.s. I DON'T OWN THE BOOK 'NEVERENDING STORY'!

"Uh…" Karma and Kaede exchanged baffled looks, wasn't Aguri supposed to stay out of the room for the interrogation?

"For the last time, it's not an interrogation, you two," Yada sighed as she stood up and thinly smiled towards the older woman, "And I think I have enough for now so dinner sounds very nice."

"Oh…" The two released collective sighs and they migrated to the table (after Kaede shook the blunet awake, the boy making strange sounds as he woke up).

"So what have you been up to since the last class' reunion?" Aguri asked the younger woman after a long tense silence, unbroken despite Nagisa's half-awake antics.

Yada looked at her over her rice bowl and placed her object on the table. "Well, I was working as an assistant in the finance department for a while and got transferred to the defense department after a whole department budget cut."

"Oh, that must have been rough," Aguri commented and noticed Kaede and Karma's curious gazes and smiled fondly at them, "Finance is basically a fancy name for money. And a budget cut happens when the big boss doesn't have enough money to finance his place so he has to release some of the workers or sell parts of his place so the cost would decrease."

"Sounds troublesome," Karma muttered with a blank gaze. Kaede nodded, adorning a thoughtful expression, "Just exchange what you need."

"It's not so simple when you are dealing with building or city size items or even international finance," Yada explained, "We used to have this system but soon enough it got too complicated and then humans invented the money trade."

"You mean the sheet trade," Karma rolled his eyes, "In my place we used real gold, silver and bronze for the coins while here they are made from…" He blinked as he mulled over the word, "paper? It sounds like pepper, how stupid."

"Karma…" Kaede hissed in warning and he grinned at her.

"Besides, gods have no need for this system since we don't trade simple objects."

"What do you trade with then?" Yada's eyes narrowed in interest. Karma caught her gaze and smirked mischievously.

"With lives."

Kaede moaned in exasperation. Nagisa yawned. Aguri chuckled nervously.

Yada eyed him. "Well, then you can only do it once then."

"Huh?" Karma looked at her like she had gone mad, "We gods have many lives, thank you very much. How do you think we live for so long?"

"I didn't think to associate reincarnation with you."

"Reincarnation… oh, you mean the soul repeating a new life," Karma shook his head and chuckled, "Nah, it's not something so complicated. But joking aside, our trade is our life's experience so that's what we trade with."

"Knowledge?"

"Yes, for me I mostly trade with my common sense," He grinned foxily and leaned back on his chair, folding his arms behind his head, "Now enough about me."

"Alright, then Kaede," The greenette straightened in her chair, face a bit paler. Yada regarded her and sighed, "I really don't understand why you're so cautious of me. I came here because Yukimura-sensei wants to stay with you no matter what."

Aguri chocked on her rice, face flaming as she tried to regain her breathing. Yada smirked softly at that.

"We… we know that…" Kaede bit her lip and looked up to Yada, stretching her lips to an uncertain smile, "What did you want to ask?"

"Well, you trade things in your home. With what?"

"Oh, well…" Kaede looked up in thought, finger on her chin, "We fairies don't really trade much as well since every couple does everything; the female take care of the fledglings and scout for food while the males scout for meat and protect the village. But we do trade mostly with tools and shifts."

"Shifts?"

"Turns of who stays behind and who scouts," Kaede shrugged. Aguri hummed and the girl smiled at the older woman in question.

"I wanted to ask that for a while… but what do fairies wear? Leaves?" Aguri inquired.

"Leaves?" Kaede raised a brow in amusement, "We don't wear clothes unless we're out for scouting. Then males wear armor made of wood and cotton and females wear flowers and cotton only."

"So that's why you didn't mind…" Aguri flashed back to the day they appeared and how nonchalant the greenette acted of being naked with two boys in the same room. That actually explains a lot…

"Pretty different than what I expected," Yada confessed and Kaede grinned in satisfaction, stabbing a slice of meat and munching on it happily.

Nagisa made an unhappy hiss and both women turned to him. Aguri chuckled and fished out a hairclip, pushing the boy's long bangs out of the way as she saw that he was trying to pull his hair out of the sauce.

"Still a useless brat," Karma rolled his eyes and scooted his chair away when the blunet turned to glare at the redhead, "Sorry, but no tackling today."

"You should then stop antagonizing someone who can't reply," Kaede chastised him but it went over his head as he smirked and a second later Nagisa yelped.

"Karma!"

He laughed, having to duck when something more _physical_ went over his head this time. Nagisa hissed at the redhead, forkless.

"Kk… rrm…a…" Nagisa hissed in anger, "H…sss…" He coughed and turned back to the plate, frustration written all over his face. Karma smiled cheekily and as a reward got his ear pulled by Aguri.

"Ow, ow, ow! What are you doing, woman!?" He barked. Said woman sighed and released his ear.

"You need to stop acting so childish, Karma. You're the older brother and Nagisa can't protect himself so if you bully him again, you'll be given an extra chore."

"Did you just threaten me like a baby?" Karma stared at her, stupefied.

She smiled a bit defiantly. "You were acting like one, so sure."

Karma gaped at her while Kaede was reduced to giggles. Nagisa raised his eyes from the meat he was tearing into and in a flash, Karma's chair was toppled to the floor.

"Limbless!" Karma roared in anger while Kaede roared in laughter, Aguri sighing while Nagisa gave a very unnoticeable satisfied smile, which was really only a twitch of his left lip side.

Yada took a note of everything that occurred, silent.

* * *

"I'm really sorry for the mess," Aguri sighed when the two women exited the house after dinner. The trio had calmed down and were safe to be left alone. So after the younger woman snapped some pictures of the three (for registration purposes), Aguri had told them that she is going to see Yada off. Kaede waved the younger woman goodbye happily while Karma grumbled and Nagisa yawned.

"No, no, I was like that with my brother a lot when we were kids," Yada shrugged, a fond smile on her face as she broke away from her business mode, "They sure are lively."

"They sure are," Aguri released a long suffering exhale, "They'll drive me mad soon, I'm certain of that."

Yada chuckled at that. Aguri smiled. "How is your brother, by the way?"

"Oh, I finally had enough money for a new experimental treatment so he was transported last month to the hospital in Kiyoto," Yada's voice was laced with hope and dread. The older woman drew the other to a short embrace in a silent supportive gesture. After a moment, Yada took a deep breath and stepped back, gesturing to the car parking a little further away, "Want to sit in my car to speak about business?"

"Sure, go ahead." They approached the car and Yada unlocked it, pausing as she opened the door. "Yada?"

"It's nothing," She shook her head and sled inside, closing the door behind her, waiting for Aguri to settle in her place before continuing, "They're not insane…"

"I had a hard time believing that as well," Aguri exhaled a laugh, "I tried to find a cinch in their stories, but nothing. Sometimes I catch myself accepting their stories before realizing that they're just can't be anything other than three teenagers who need help."

"Might need it more than you can imagine." Aguri turned to look at the brunette, confusion evident on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"Children many times had been proven to run away to their imaginary fantasy worlds when the real world became too harsh on their psych. It's a self-protection instinct, Meaning—"

"Their real world was a nightmare," Aguri finished with a heavy heart, "I had a hunch it would be something like this."

"I also noticed a sense of deep fear from being abandoned by at least Karma and Kaede," The brunette held her chin with her fingers, pondering over her inspection, "They still think that given the opportunity that you'll throw them away."

"I would never—"

"I know, and they know, but it's ingrained in them," Yada interrupted her, "It must have happened to them before to get such a reaction. I don't know what to think with Nagisa, but I don't like his indifference."

"To be honest, it's better than before," Aguri sighed, "He was clueless about everything, could only hiss and the only emotion we got out of him was anger. Karma was usually the recipient for that."

"Could it be he tried to invoke those emotions since it unnerved him?" Yada asked.

"Could be. I only thought of getting their real names at the time so I didn't delve too much into their behaviors."

"I understand… so to be honest, I could draw a lot of things out of that, but I don't want to assume things without concrete evidence," Yada elaborated when Aguri's black eyes darkened in worry.

"I want to help them so much but I don't know anything about them," She sighed and buried her face in her hands, "What should I do?"

"In the meanwhile? Just don't give up on them. Be there for them and let them know that they're not alone."

"Is that what you did with your brother?" The woman wondered and Yada nodded.

"It helped him get over the depression from the pills. He was always so gullible," Yada chuckled mirthlessly.

"I didn't mean to upset you, I'm sorry," Aguri winched, but Yada quickly shook her head.

"No need, I know you mean well. I'll contact my senior in the citizen department, see if he can find their identities from the pictures. If not, we'll have to do DNA search."

"Yada," The woman turned to the taller black haired woman, whose black eyes shimmered with gratefulness, "Thank you for everything. You didn't have to but thank you for helping me so much."

"Sensei, you seem to misunderstand something," Aguri blinked in surprise at Yada's stiff tone, "I'm not doing it as a favor."

"You… don't?" The woman echoed, "You mean, you want me to—"

"Once again, misunderstood," Yada smiled softly, "I'm doing that because I am returning your kindness."

"But… but I didn't do anything, Yada," Aguri smiled uncertainly, "Especially not to warrant such a big help."

"Yukimura-sensei," The older woman quieted down, "When our year graduated and our entire class was in the top 50, with our future filled with hope and life, we have decided that from then on anytime you needed our help that we would provide. No matter what the wish is."

"But I was your teacher," Aguri sighed and then chuckled, "It was my duty to look after you."

"Not to the point of returning our faith in ourselves and our future," The brunette shook her head, "Please let me repay some of what you had given us."

"Yada… you're giving me too much credit. Your class was filled with amazing children and you each found the strength in yourself to continue forward. I was merely your advisor, nothing more. You were the ones to find hope, not me."

"Sometimes I wonder if you're too kindhearted to a fault," Yada sighed but kept a firm on her tone, "Yukimura-sensei, I don't care if you think you did nothing, to us you were the beacon of hope and we simply wish to return that light. We have waited for an opportunity to repay you, and we don't want that taken away from us."

"O… okay…" Aguri deflated at that, then snorted and laughed, "Look at me, such a petty woman, to be taking advantage of you kids."

"Sensei—"

"Thank you, Yada. I'll be certain to thank Muramatsu as well, but for now that will do," Aguri smiled widely at Yada and the younger woman shook her head fondly and turned to face the wheel. Then she looked back to the black head and nodded.

"By the way, Hara said that if there is ever a need for food, she will make better food than Muramatsu," She said amusingly, "Itona sent me some pictures of 'teenager-friendly' inventions he sells in case you want to give them any games, and Yoshida is already collaborating with Sugaya to create the best motorcycle for them."

Aguri laughed heartily. "I don't think I can trust Karma with a bike, much less with a motorcycle."

Yada chuckled and shrugged. "Well, Muramatsu and Terasaka got them to back down so Sugaya has moved to team Itona. Yoshida was heartbroken."

"You guys never change," Aguri giggled behind her hand, her eyes strangely wet, "But thank you so much. I really needed that. I really needed to know that I'm not alone here. That those children are not alone. So thank you, Yada. Thank you, everyone," Aguri hiccupped and tried to muffle her sobs. Yada looked at her affectionately, letting her cry in silence.

"Thank you, Yukimura-sensei."

* * *

"So what now?" Karma asked when the two women left the house, the trio moving back to the couch, this time with Nagisa squashed in the middle, much to the redhead's chagrin.

"Well, I don't think we'll be kicked out," Kaede sighed, flopping herself over the armrest, looking at the living room as if suddenly it was the most interesting thing; which, to be honest, was anything but. It was quite bare – a dining table, a tea table, a bookshelf filled with different colored books with varied thickness and the couch.

"Did she even sit here for long?" She wondered to herself, "It seems so lonely."

"What are you mumbling to yourself there?" Karma grumbled, scooting as far away as possible from the blunet who was rocking himself to the sides, eyes wide in wonder as he gazed at something to their back, head tilted back. Kaede followed his gaze and found herself once again eyeing the bookshelf.

She narrowed her eyes and looked at Nagisa. "Why are you eyeing the books?"

"Maybe he wants to read? Did the shrine have had a story time for little snakes?" Nagisa turned to glare at the cheekily grinning Karma.

"Do you know to read?"

Nagisa looked down, "…No…"

"Figures," Karma rolled his eyes and prepared to close his eyes when he saw Kaede stand up. He raised his head and furrowed his brows as she brushed her finger across book spines on the middle row. "What are you doing?"

"Hmm?" Kaede stopped her actions and turned to him, a fond smile on her face, "Oh, I was just looking for a good book to read for him. I'm trying to find one in Aguri-nee's native language… Japan… Nihongo? Anyways, that language since I can read the most in it."

"…Rr… eee… d?" Nagisa spun in his place so he was on his knees, chest to the backrest and hands clutching it, eyes wide with confusion and suspicion to the paper filled hard cover Kaede was pulling out.

"Yep," The greenette nodded happily, showing her prize to the blunet, "The title sounds pretty interesting, no?"

Karma pursed his lips is distaste, "'The Neverending Story'? What in Odin's name? It sounds stupid."

"I think it's lovely," Kaede poked her tongue out at him and circled the couch to sit this time between the boys, lifting the cover, eyes widening at the picturized first letter, "It's… it's almost like my native scripture."

"A picture?" Karma raised a brow. She nodded and turned to Nagisa, who had taken the time they talked to nestle on her shoulder, gazing at the black smudges on the page in astonishment and anticipation. When she simply looked at him, he frowned and poked the book with his finger.

"Rr… eed!" He demanded, hissing when Kaede and Karma laughed.

"Just like a baby," Karma taunted and Nagisa hissed irately, only stopped by Kaede's voice as she started to read, stumbling over some words but overall managing quite well (She doesn't count Karma's cheeky corrections).

* * *

"'... _It usually started with just a little chunk, no bigger than a partridge egg. But then these chunks got bigger and bigger. If somebody put his foot into one of them by mistake, the foot - or hand - or whatever else he put in - would be gone too. It didn't hurt - it was just that a part of whoever it was would be missing. Some would even fall in on purpose if they got too close to the Nothing. It has an irresistible attraction - the bigger the place, the stronger the pull…_ '" Kaede flipped the page, noticing Karma's interested gaze despite him not facing them and Nagisa attentiveness, smiling to herself. It has been a while since she had something like that.

She took a deep breath and continued. "'… _None of us could imagine what this terrible thing might be, what caused it, and what we could do about it. And seeing that it didn't go away by itself but kept spreading, we finally decided to send a messenger to the Childlike Empress to ask her for advice and help. Well, I'm the messenger."_

_The three others gazed silently into space._

_After a while, the night-hob sighed: "Hoo! It's the same where I come from. And I'm traveling on the exact same errand - hoo hoo!"_

_The tiny turned to the will-o'-the-wisp. "Each one of us," he chirped, "comes from a different province of Fantastica. We've met here entirely by chance. But each one of us is going to the Childlike Empress with the same message."_ '—"

"Kind of like us, don't you think?" The trio jolted and swiveled around to see Aguri smile affectionately at them, hovering over them with her elbows on the backrest and palms cupping her cheeks.

"When did you get here?" Karma asked her harshly, eyes narrow and fists unclenching.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I startle you three?" Aguri chuckled and stepped back, coming to the front of the couch and sitting on the chair she had placed for Yada earlier, "I came in just now. Yada sends her regards, by the way."

"What did you mean by 'like us'?" Kaede queried, closing the book and putting it on the table, much to Nagisa's indignation.

The raven haired woman smiled mysteriously and interlaced her finger and rested her chin on them, "How about you try guessing?"

Kaede pouted but Karma butted in before she could say anything. "You think we're like those three buffoons searching for the kid queen?"

"They're very important messengers to warn the empress," Kaede scolded him, "And they met by chance while coming from totally different places, just like us."

"So what do you figure our mission is?" Golden eyes, masked with boredom, bore into hazel.

Kaede grinned widely. "Well, our mission is to fill Aguri-nee's 'nothing'."

Karma and Aguri begun laughing at the same time for different reasons. Karma was the first to say anything.

"Are you serious?"

"Now, now, Karma, she does have a point," Aguri smiled and stood up, moving around the table and standing before them. The trio looked up in question, yelping in surprise when she bent and gathered them in her arms, squeezing them in a tight embrace.

"You three came here to fill my loneliness," She muttered into the embrace, chuckling when Kaede mumbled something about not being able to breath. She released them but took their hands and held them together, looking into each of their eyes with a serious gaze. "You are the best thing that happened to me in a long time and I'm not letting that go. Ever. I know that you are worried that I may get fed up with you and will kick you out, but I promise you that – I won't. You are my family and I'm going to legalize that and give you a chance of living in this world properly."

"Properly?" Kaede asked with a soft voice, eyes glistening and lower lip quivering.

"Yes, I will show you many amazing things the humans can offer," Aguri confirmed, "Will you stay with me?"

"Of course," Kaede didn't hesitate.

"Well, we don't really have any other options, do we?" Karma added his two cents.

Nagisa nodded.

"I'm glad," Aguri smiled warmly and pulled them again to a warm embrace.

* * *

"So I have decided – Nagisa will be coming with us to school on Monday," Aguri announced cheerfully during breakfast.

...

"Huh!?" Was Kaede's and Karma's reaction.

"…Huuu…" Nagisa said, though he couldn't be really counted for since he was nodding off over his plate of eggs.

Aguri smiled widely at them.

This is going to be her family real soon.

She can't wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	12. Oh Crap...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, crap, i don't have material for my 11th chapter after my big writer's block so after the 10th chapter i'm putting on a bonus chapter and then use that time, alright? hope that two weeks would be enough for another chapter.
> 
> update: finished it, but chapter 13 is worse... still a bonus chapter as a weekly update, alright?
> 
> sorry that the recent chapters have been all short chapters. just... it's hard for me to write a lot and i want to stop at specific places so...
> 
> enjoy?
> 
> p.s. things are getting bad again *sighs* i'm so tired...
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. i miss Nagisa! someone draw me some nagisa being the badass he is!
> 
> p.s. I DON'T OWN THE BOOK 'NEVERENDING STORY'!

She was done with it.

First Nagisa didn't want to wake up, not used to the early rising; then she had to search for appropriate clothes since she had forgotten to get more school clothes, refusing Karma's 'kind' offer to bring him one of her skirts, finally managing to convince him instead to lend his spare pair of pants for the occasion. Then she finally forced Nagisa to wear hateful sandals (Kaede was protesting about having her brother suffer through the same pain in the back) and then… at long last they walked out of the door towards the car.

Now, Karma and Kaede apparently knew what Nagisa's reaction would be and stood behind him to prevent him from turning on his heels and running back to the house. The blunet took five minutes to finally get into the vehicle and then was clutching to Karma's sleeve the entire ride, hair having to be tied again since he pulled on it anxiously when being calmed down.

Strangely enough, none of the usual banter happened in the ride. Karma was oddly quiet with none of his typical annoyance at the blunet. Aguri thought that Kaede would say something about that, but even she was silent.

As if they were sharing in his anxiety.

Thankfully, the walk up the mountain was peaceful, but then Nagisa kept stopping at every other tree to gaze at something or even try to climb a tree, frowning when Kaede yanked him back to the road. Once he even tried to run for the tree, stumbling over his sandals he was wearing for the first time and landing in a bush. Karma was laughing hysterically while Kaede tried to contain her giggles as she helped the blunet onto his feet. Aguri smiling in exasperation as Nagisa hissed and made strange noises as he tried to tell the girl to leave him alone, 'learning' two new words.

Then they got to the classroom ten minutes late with her at the ends of her wits and with Nagisa not stopping fidgeting, even hiding behind Karma when he spotted the students through the classroom's window.

"Okay," Aguri sighed when they walked into the building, headache forming between her eyes and her nerves fried. Nagisa looked sheepish, but not yet appearing to be guilty of his actions, an emotion she still didn't manage to instill in him.

Oh well… "So Karma and Kaede will walk inside with me and then I will call Nagisa's name and you will enter when I do, understood?" She asked the blunet, who after a moment of yawning, nodded.

Thank goodness.

She opened the door, not noticing Nagisa's widening eyes and stiffening body nor Kaede's worried glance and Karma's eye rolling, and entered the classroom.

"Everyone, settle down," She announced, sending a gratitude prayer for any god up there that her class was more manageable this morning than Nagisa as everyone sat down, eyeing her with their eyes clearing up and the air turning lighter.

She blinked and snuck a peek at the two.

Maybe there was something to the two's statement about the gloom. She mentally shook her head and clasped her hands, "Okay, so before we start I have some announcements. First, Okuda's mother said that Okuda should be arriving later this morning since she has been feeling better."

Two of the girls sighed in relief with the orange head whispering something to Kaede. She cleared her throat to get the attention back to herself and gestured to the door, "Secondly, today we have my uncle's third child joining us."

Murmurs filled the classroom as she called 'Nagisa, you can come in!"

The door slowly opened and the blunet shyly stood there, eyes fixated on the floor. Aguri sighed, all irritation flying out of the window and replaced with worry and affection. Perhaps this was too soon for him and she is really concerned with the class' reaction of the boy.

"Come over, Nagisa," She beckoned him over and he slowly walked towards her, shoulders hunched with wariness and she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and he immediately calmed down, looking up to her with a twitch of his lips.

She turned to the class, who eyed Nagisa with confused looks. "Okay, so this is Nagisa. He is shy since he is not used to strangers so make sure to be nice to him, alright?"

"Uh, sensei?" Takebayashi raised his hand and Aguri let him continue, "Are you sure they are related?"

Aguri felt her heart stop but still managed to smile and ask him for an elaboration. The bespectacled boy pushed his glasses up his nose. "I mean that other than their crazy hair colors which cannot be real, they look too different and that is rare even with non-identical triplets."

"That's very rude of you!" Kurahashi slammed her hands onto her desk as she stood up, causing everyone to jolt and snapt around to her. Aguri's eyes locked with Kaede's wide hazel orbs. "Kaede told me personally that they are adopted, which is something that not many people like to publicize so take it back right away."

The woman's heart slowly fell down to its rightful place as Takebayashi bowed his head and apologized for his wrong words. "It's okay, Takebayashi, but you must understand that you can't just ask those questions outright. It's very rude and can hurt people who don't wish to remember certain things. Now that you have learned your lesson, I want for tomorrow a two-page English report on adoption and respect—"

The class groaned with some throwing deadly glares at Takebayashi, who huffed and folded his arms.

"—now on to the lesson."

* * *

Nagisa was led to a desk to Kaede's left and behind Isogai, his hands twitching and lip bitten harshly. He sat down and startled when a hand was placed on his back. He snapped around, hostile light blue eyes meeting concerned dark blue and a disarming concerned smile.

"Are you alright? You seem really stressed," The blue eyed boy with the raven colored hair asked, "If you need any help, you can ask me, okay?"

The hostile light blue kept their stare for a long moment before softening and the blunet nodded briskly and turned to the front, shoulders still hunched but his hands calming down and his lips pressed together instead of bitten.

Kaede eyed him uneasily while Karma stubbornly kept boring a hole in the wall with his eyes.

"Since we're already on the subject, we are starting with English today," Aguri stated and Kaede turned to the woman by the board. The woman brought out a pile of papers and distributed them between the five rows, "So I wanted to spice things up and actually read a page from a book I selected myself. Now, the first of each row please take four pages and pass to the one behind you."

Takebayashi grabbed a pile of pages and after taking four for himself, he passed to her with a push of his glasses as acknowledgement the rest. She nodded to him and counted four and slipped the rest to the one behind her, a very average looking boy with black eyes and a very dark green hued hair (and she was the one with strange hair, she thought in bemusement). She took a look at the page and groaned, in the past week she had caught up pretty quickly on the English language – Karma told her that it is probably from the same idea that enables her to speak Japanese without ever learning it – and from what she sees, this is from the same book she had read to Nagisa after Yada's visit, but it was way beyond what they read.

She glanced to the woman standing in front of the class, wondering what her goal is since it's not a coincidence that she has chosen this book. Aguri caught her gaze and smiled mysteriously and went back to the others, "So this is going to be as usual. We'll be starting with Maheara, then Karma and so on. I'll stop you on random and then the next person will continue from the same spot, understood?"

"Yes!" The class echoed while Karma and Kaede exchanged wary looks. The greenette looked over at Nagisa, detecting his baffled and slightly awed gaze and grabbed his attention. When he turned to her, she smiled and helped his push his desk to hers, that way they could sit together as she would show him where they are.

She hoped no one would notice the former snake's inability to read. Perhaps it was too soon…

Well, too late for that.

* * *

When it was her turn, Kaede had a bad feeling creeping up her spine as she went over the words and slowly worded them out, carefully making sure she wasn't stumbling over words. Then she took a deep breath and started.

"' _Atreyu turned in the direction of the voice, which darted fitfully among the columns, but he could see no one._

_"Who are you?" he cried._

_The voice came back to him like an echo: "Who are you?"_

_Atreyu pondered. "Who am I?" he murmured. "I don't know. I have a feeling that I once knew. But does it matter?"_ '…"

 _'Who are you?'_ Who is she indeed? Why, she is Green Flower of course. She is a two hundred-forty-three forest fairy who just found her partner and was about to start a family when she got cursed and exiled—

No, she is Kaede, Aguri's soon-to-be sister and stuck in a human form, living in a small house with her siblings and is currently attending school.

...

Who is she? Is she the fairy or she the human? Can she still think of herself as Green Flower or is she no longer that fairy? Oh, heaven help her, who is—

"Kaede?" Aguri's concerned voice snapped her out of stupor and slowly she noticed the class' eyes on her and realized that she was standing there for a long time without saying a word. Face burning with humiliation, she immediately sat down, head lowered in embarrassment.

Kurahashi sent her a troubled gaze, probably hoping she was sitting closer to her and not on the other side of the classroom by the window. Kaede felt the burning stare but didn't look up, not even jolting when Nagisa's hand rubbed her back.

"Ka…ee…de… Kee…i?" He asked and she wanted to cry. He was so worried he forced himself to speak.

"Greenie, it happened, mulling over it would only embarrass you further," Karma's voice was firm but softer than he intended and Kaede found herself nodding, looking up to Aguri and seeing her expression that screamed 'I'm so sorry!'

She simply smiled back limply and went back to her page.

The raven haired woman took a deep breath and motioned to the student sitting behind Kaede. "Kimura, please continue."

"Yes!" The boy behind her rose and the reading proceeded. Kaede forced herself to listen and help Nagisa follow, his eyes seeming to linger on some letters longer than others and she wondered what was going on in his head. From the three of them, he was the one they knew the least of all.

 _'Who are you?'_ Was he a simple shrine freeloader? Was he a simple snake? What abnormality was Karma talking about? What happened that brought him here? Was he lonely or sad? But he didn't show any emotions at first other than suspicion and anger.

Who are you, Nagisa?

"'… _Atreyu cried out: "Then help me, Uyulala, tell me why you sing a plaint as if you soon must die."_

_And the voice sang: "The Childlike Empress is sick, and with her Fantastica will die. The Nothing will swallow this place, it will perish and so will I. We shall vanish into the nowhere and never, as though we had never been. The Empress needs a new name to make her well again."_

_Atreyu pleaded: "Oh, tell me, Uyulala, oh, tell me who can give The Childlike Empress the name, which alone will let her live."_

_Then suddenly the voice came from right next to him, as though someone were whispering into his ear: "Who can give the Childlike Empress the new name that will make her well? Not you, not I, no elf, no djinn, Can save us from the evil spell. For we are figures in a book - We do what we were invented for, but we can fashion nothing new and cannot change from what we are._

_But there's a realm outside Fantastica, The Outer World is its name, The people who live there are rich indeed and not at all the same. Born of the Word, the children of man, Or humans, as they're sometimes called, have had the gift of giving names_ _ever since our worlds began, In every age it's they who gave The Childlike Empress life, for wondrous new names have the power to save…_ '"

Hazel eyes blinked and slowly rose from the white paper they were boring into and up to the woman smiling at the class, water suddenly welling in them, threatening to break the dam.

It was so simple she never could have thought about it. The reason why Aguri brought this specific chapter to the class and made her read those words was so she could tell her through words she no longer knew how to send.

Humans have the ability to give names to those who are in need of salvation. They have the gift of giving hope and new paths to lost creatures who shied from the light for a very long time.

Aguri was telling her that from the minute she had gave them names that she had seen them as their new selves. Perhaps Karma was the only exception seeing he kept his name, but he was not left behind, his name on Aguri's tongue sounded like a different tune than when he introduced himself.

Aguri was answering her through the same way she had asked her.

Who is she? She was Green Flower, but she is now Kaede.

She was both.

And she wouldn't change it for the world.

* * *

"I really am sorry for doing this to you. I should have told you," Aguri apologized at lunch when Kaede went to her to inquire about the reading.

The greenette simply shook her head and smiled at the woman blissfully, "Thank you, Aguri-nee."

Black eyes softened and twinkled with affection as the woman drew the girl into a tight embrace. "Anytime, sweetheart. I meant it and I promise to try and never hurt you."

"Thank you," Kaede mumbled into the embrace, hiding her tears in the woman's chest, "Thank you, Aguri-nee."

"What's the matter, Kaede? You're acting a bit strange"

Kaede drew back and shook her head. "No, everything is alright," She rubbed her eyes and smiled at her. "You helped me a lot with that story. Thank you."

"I'm glad," Aguri said and then Kaede was dragged away by Kurahashi's worried ranting and probes, but not before sending one last reassuring quirk of the lips at Aguri. The woman watched them fondly and then looked to her left when a girl with short black hair styled in a bob with straight bangs ending just above sharp dark forest green eyes approached her.

"What is it that you need, Fuwa?" She asked the girl cheerily. The girl stared at her and then placed a finger on her chin. Aguri smiled amusingly; this was the girl's habit when she was contemplating something interesting.

"Say, Yukimura-sensei, is there something else you're not telling us about those three?" The girl started with a quirk of her lips, her eyes sparkling.

And for the second time of the day, Aguri's heart leapt to her throat, but she kept her smile. "Of course there is. I only introduced them recently, Fuwa."

"Yukimura-sensei, they have a very strange lack of certain knowledge bits that teenagers our age should have," The girl continued, "Like with some lessons, they struggle as though they never learned even the basic terminology that should be taught at kindergarten. And today with Nagisa; can he even read or speak? And he doesn't show many emotions. The three of them don't even act like siblings—"

Aguri was now freaking out. This is really bad… First Takebayashi, now Fuwa?! Are they really so transparent? What is she to do! Those kids are far too bright and clever nowadays! She knew what she was getting herself into by bringing those three— Think Aguri, Think! She pleaded with herself while maintaining her peaceful, 'teacher mode' expression. She gave a small sigh and said "Fuwa, tell me… If you had just transferred to a new school, knew no one from the students and be away from home for the first time in your life and someone came to you and started asking questions about very personal bits about your life that you didn't want to disclose to the public – how would you have felt?"

Fuwa's mouth closed shut and she contemplated it for several seconds before sighing and hanging her head low in defeat. "I probably would have felt attacked and invaded."

"Exactly," Aguri nearly sighed in relief, "And now that you have thought this over, do you want to keep asking those questions? Especially without befriending any of them?"

"…I guess not?" Fuwa's shoulders drooped and she sighed, "I'm sorry, sensei, I pushed too far."

"As long as you understand, that's most important," Aguri didn't mention the beating organ still residing in her mouth nor did she mention the sudden clammy feeling her palms gained, "It's a good thing you asked me and not the three of them since you could have insulted them very badly. They're good kids, just not used to teenagers."

"Home tutoring…" Aguri nodded and Fuwa bowed her head to her and excused herself, walking away from the nearly fainting teacher. Aguri decided to retreat for the rest of the break to gather her bearing again and left the classroom to her teacher's lounge, not knowing of the events about to unfold.

* * *

Nagisa was fidgeting in his place, glancing over to where Kaede was chatting with the orange haired girl and back to his desk, his legs flinging up and down as he rocked himself side to side. Karma was sitting in his place, shooting him the occasional glance that was unreadable, though his fingers twitched.

Suddenly a presence made him look up and see a blonde girl smirk at him, a strange rectangular gleaming object in her hand. He tilted his head in confusion, his body tensing up.

"Hello there, Nagisa~" The girl greeted him, "I'm Nakamura Rio, nice to meet you~"

He nodded, drawing further into his seat. "…Llo…"

"So you are Karma's and Kaede's brother, right?" Nagisa nodded again, face clouding at her brightening eyes, "You really are adorable, I had a hard time believing you are a boy. You are a boy, right? I mean, you look like a girl and all."

Nagisa gritted his teeth, baring them slightly and she chuckled, raising her hands in surrender. "Sorry, got excited. Say," She lowered her arms and drew closer to the boy, "Can I take a picture? And even if you are a boy, I really have so many ideas for clothes you can wear that will make you so cute!"

Nagisa stared at the blabbering blonde, shoulders hunched and his body just screaming 'uncomfortable'.

"Oi, you're giving me a headache." Nakamura found herself suddenly being dragged away from the table. She started flailing and whined.

"But I want to take pictures of your adorable brother~"

"Save it for another day."

"Ho? Someone is worried about their little brother?" Nakamura grinned, "Didn't peg you for the protective big brother, Karma."

"Shut up."

* * *

"I thought you said Nakamura is harmless," Kaede sighed, watching the redhead drag Nakamura away from the blunet's desk. Kurahashi copied her actions and shook her head.

"I thought so too, can't imagine why she finds your brother so interesting. But she glued to him so quickly, what is your brother made of anyways?"

"Beats me, I just think Nagisa is now too intimidated to actually befriend anyone," Kaede looked over to Nagisa's place only to see him stand up and walk away to the door, disappearing into the hall. "As I thought, he probably is going to hide himself for the rest of the day," She was about to stand up and follow the blunet when someone's voice called 'Sugino, where are you running off to?'

The two turned to the other side of the classroom, where the average looking boy… Kimura, called out to a raven haired teen who rushed out of the class, probably after Nagisa. Kurahashi smiled in relief.

"It's Sugino so it'll be fine. He is very friendly and I even saw him talk to Nagisa before so don't worry about him, okay?"

Kaede nodded and looked out of the door, hoping that Nagisa won't give himself away in his distress…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	13. Bonus Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i am very close to finishing the rewrite *conffeti, party!* i'm stuck... because i forget a very important event and wrote soemthing else in that time period and now i'm stuck on how to insert the event back into the story without the whole timeline being compeltely screwed... i'm so sorry.
> 
> update: i found a solution and is slowly managing to write it... very soon... VERY SOON!
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. i miss Nagisa! someone draw me some nagisa being the badass he is! I BEG OF YOU!

_So it would make sense for Nagisa to be able to speak at least a little when he gets to the classroom on Sunday..._ That was Aguri's first thought Saturday morning after announcing the news to the trio, who didn't seem happy about it.

Nagisa was eating silently while Kaede shot worried glances here and there at him. Well, Kaede was also thinking in the same lines as Aguri.

How would Nagisa communicate with the students? Perhaps she got a bit ahead of herself, but she did feel that it's the correct time to let Nagisa out of the house. He needed to venture out and staying cooped up inside the house won't give him that chance.

She wants him to express more emotions after all. And speak more, which brings her back to her current worry - Why even after more than a week, he barely went past three syllables and to the short words.

"Nagisa, try saying 'hello'." She decided to test him at the end.

"L...oo," Nagisa frowned then pursed his lips, "Llo..?"

"Well, that's almost there," Aguri mused, "How about our names?"

Nagisa nodded. "Ka..ma?"

Karma snorted.

"Ka...ee?"

Kaede chuckled.

"A...ger?"

Aguri sighed. "Almost there..."

"Kay...?" Nagisa seemed confused at her reaction, but she only smiled reassuringly at him and picked at her food before reaching a decision.

"Well, you'll learn more sounds today since after that it would become easier to speak." Kaede perked at that and beamed.

"I'll be in charge!" She said. Karma rolled his eyes.

"Better you than having to deal with his baby talk," He grumbled and she grinned at him.

"Aww, you can just say you're worried about him as well."

"For Odin's sake, no." She kept grinning.

"Can we please focus on Nagisa's speech and not fighting among yourselves _again?_ " Aguri said, exasperated.

"Hehe, sorry," Kaede said sheepishly and Karma ignored her altogether. Nagisa yawned and nodded off over his plate, about to fall asleep if not for Karma's smack for the head.

"Ka—!"

"Don't fall asleep, you idiot. This whole mess is because of you," Karma snapped, "At least make yourself useful."

"I think you made it worse..." Kaede facepalmed.

"No ss..leesss!" Nagisa retorted, "Ssspe...ka!"

"Speak properly, useless snake!" Now Karma and Nagisa were growling at each other, utensils in hands gleaming almost maliciously.

"Stop that!" Aguri demanded, "Nagisa is learning new words. Karma, stop riling him up."

"Why are you taking his side?" Karma snarled. Aguri's lips thinned in sadness.

"I am not taking anyone's side, Karma. But you are the more mature one so sadly the reponsibilty falls on you," She smiled thinly, "I'm sorry if it feels like it."

"Whatever," Karma sighed and threw his knife back to the table and stood up, hands shoved in pockets as he stalked towards the hall. Aguri frowned sadly and stood up, rushing after Karma.

Kaede watched them go and turned to Nagisa, who went back to his food, seemingly undeterred by the fight. She scowled at the sight, wondering if there was something to what she heard Aguri say to herself in passing after Yada left.

Was Nagisa really feeling anything?

* * *

"I'm sorry, Karma. I really didn't mean to make it sound as if I'm taking Nagisa's side." Aguri caught up to the redhead and clasped a hand over his shoulder, stopping his retreat. Gold eyes locked with her then looked back forward, acknowledging her words.

"I don't really care, but it does piss me off," He muttered so silently Aguri almost missed it. She exhaled and pulled him into a very brief embrace.

"I'm sorry..."

* * *

Nagisa was mouthing some stuff while walking towards the couch, noticing Karma brooding at the entrance of the guest room and started to walk towards him, mouth pursed.

"What do you want now, idiot?" Karma said scathingly, eyes flashing in annoyance. Nagisa blinked and looked at the door.

"Dd...oor," He pointed at it, then at Karma, "Ka...ma... sssa...dd...?"

Karma furrowed his brows then snorted. "You are such a nuisence, but whatever." Then a hand landed on the blue hair.

Nagisa's brows rose and his eyes widened as he raised his hand to feel the strange feeling of Karma's hand on his hair. The redhead rolled his eyes and pushed the head away and walking into the room. "You were in the way, Limbless."

Nagisa looked while Karma closed the door behind him then raised his eyes to his head, placing his hand where Karma's hand was before. Confusion marred his face, but his lips twitched.

Kaede and Aguri exchanged looks and giggled.

Everything will turn out alright.

For sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?
> 
> Okay, i have to apologize. this bonus chapter was written today and i was so sluggish and my mind wasn't working so... it's terrible. i'm really sorry.
> 
> as a compensation, i'll post the next chapter at saturday, alright?
> 
> A question: do you guys get excited at tuesday morning since you know a new chapter will come up that day? just curious *shrugs*


	14. I Hate You!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. I UPLOADED A NEW SIDE STORY FOR MY 'I AM A SNAKE' SERIES!
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. i miss Nagisa! someone draw me some nagisa being the badass he is! I BEG OF YOU!

"Nagisa!" Sugino had ran out of the class, looking around for the flash of blue hair but found nothing. How could the boy disappear so swiftly? But he wanted to talk to the other so he won't give up so easily.

A rustle had him look at one of the trees and see a foot disappearing into the leaves. He smiled in triumph, taking off after the blunet and soon reaching the tree.

"Nagisa? Are you up there?" He called, being reminded of his teacher's warning about climbing the trees when he heard the hissing of a snake. Immediately he jumped onto the closest branch and heaved himself up. He needed to get Nagisa down before the snake can bite and kill him!

"Nagisa, there is a snake up there, so you need to get down!" He called again. But he didn't receive an answer so he pressed on until he heard another rustling and settled on a branch, reaching out a hand and moving the branches away. Immediately he slapped a hand to his mouth to muffle his laughter.

On a thick branch that was somehow bare of any leaves and smaller branches, lied Nagisa on his stomach with his legs and arms circled around the rough surface in a way that really resembled a cat only the blunet didn't seem scared of being so high up the tree. Another soft hiss made his ears perk up and he immediately climbed onto the branch and poked the other's back.

"Uh, Nagisa, you should probably get down—" He started but was jolted and nearly fell off the branch if it wasn't for his baseball's instincts kicking in and causing him to clutch to the bark behind him. What startled him was Nagisa sitting up abruptly and turned his head to look at him with intense blue eyes that almost seemed to glow.

"Who…" The blue bore into his eyes and for a second it felt as if all air was sucked out of his lungs. Wasn't this kid supposed to be meek? Fortunately, the gaze softened and Nagisa simply tilted his head. Sugino recovered and shakily smiled.

"Hello there," He started, his friendly genes kicking in as he pushed himself away from the branch and raised his hand in a tentative wave, "I'm Sugino Tomohito, love baseball and dream to be a pitcher ace in the national team. It's very nice to meet you Nagisa."

"..Llo…" Nagisa replied and looked up at the hand, then seemed to contemplate before he braced one of his palms on the branch and spun himself so he was sitting facing Sugino. The raven haired boy whistled in awe.

"That was so cool! Can you teach me how to do that?" Sugino asked excitedly. Nagisa looked at him and blinked, brows furrowed and mouth pursed. The raven head frowned when the blunet didn't talk, but simply chalked it up to shyness and stuck out his hand.

Again Nagisa looked at his hand in confusion evident on his face. Seriously, it's as if he had never seen a handshake before… suspicion had begun blooming in his head but he quickly shook it out of his mind and smiled brightly.

"Don't you know about a handshake?"

"No…?" Blue blinked and Nagisa seemed to realize something because he extended his hand as well and grasped Sugino's with a little _too_ much force than needed. He winched but grinned, shaking their hands slightly.

"It's very nice to meet you, Nagisa."

"Y..ees…" Nagisa mumbled, the hissing sound appearing again. Sugino looked up in alarm and tugged at Nagisa's hand. "Wha…?"

"I think we should get down since that snake is probably still here," Sugino pulled at the arm again and thankfully Nagisa went with his request despite not seeming worried about having a snake nearby. Seriously, does that kid get deterred by anything?

Soon he touched ground and glanced up to see Nagisa swing from the branch and land on four, standing up and slightly wavering in place. Sugino immediately righted him and chuckled.

"That was pretty neat, but don't try to show off if you will only get hurt, alright?" Nagisa frowned in confusion butmerely shrugged.

"Kay…"

"Hey, I'm not that scary," Sugino placed a hand on the other's shoulder while smiling reassuringly, "I came here since I figured you must be upset about Nakamura's teasing."

"…" Nagisa regarded him for a long time before his lips twitched and the blunet raised his fingers to Sugino's face but they froze midway and dropped back to his sides. Sugino observed him in concern, did he do something wrong?

"Say… do you want to be friends?" Sugino tried again from a different angle.

"F..ren..s? Wha...?" Sugino nearly facepalmed, he didn't even know what friends are? Was he raised under a rock or something?

"Friends are people who are close yet not exactly family," He explained and Nagisa's brows rose in understanding, his eyes flashing, and this time his lips were pulled even further into a proper small smile as he nodded and rocked on his feet. Sugino brightened at that and shook the hand he was still holding.

"I'm so glad, Nagisa!"

"S..gin…" Nagisa mumbled, his free hand forcibly stopping the excited boy. Sugino chuckled sheepishly and released the hand only to engulf the blunet in a hug.

"Sorry, I'm just too excited! Even though you are pretty ignorant, you seem pretty interesting and I just felt like I want to befriend you! I'm so happy you are my friend now! I should totally bring my baseball tomorrow so I can so you my own awesome abilities! Oh, we are going to be best friends, I can just feel that!"

"S..to.." Nagisa struggled in the arms and Sugino finally released the boy, vibrating in his place from happiness. The blunet huffed and folded his arms protectively, causing the raven head to apologize, sheepishly rubbing his nape.

"Anyways, we have to get back to class since lunch is ending." Nagisa had his hand yanked again as the excitable raven head pulled him into a run.

Light blue eyes observed the one pulling him and suddenly softened in a way that the boy himself didn't know how to explain.

* * *

Karma was brooding in his seat when Sugino sled the door open, dragging inside a strange looking blunet. Gold eyes narrowed as they noticed the short teen's small smile and soft gaze. That was an emotion they had never seen on the blunet's face and for some reason it irritated him.

Sugino froze on his way to his desk, shivers coming up his spine. He looked around and his dark blue gaze fell on the redhead and widened as fear clutched on his heart.

"…Gin?" Nagisa tugged on his sleeve and the boy immediately turned to the blunet, smiling and forgetting about the chilling presence.

"I'm fine. Lets sit down, Nagisa."

Karma scowled. "Oh, someone is being jealous?" The redhead turned to the desk in front of him that consisted of the annoying playboy of the class; Maehara.

"And do tell, who do I have to be jealous of?" Karma adorned his mocking smile and rested his chin on his palm, slouching across the small table.

"Of Sugino, of course," The orange head grinned cheekily, "He's taking away your precious little brother after all."

"Huh?" Karma wrinkled his nose, "And why in Odin's name should I care about who limbless is befriending? Maybe that way he'll stop badgering me."

"Ah, the tsundere in you is showing, Karma~" Maehara cackled.

Tsundere? He didn't know what it was, but it sure sounded like something troublesome. "No, it's not. And don't you have Isogai to pester?"

"I'm not pestering my best friend," Maehara winked, "He loves to be around me, right Yuuma?" The last two words he shouted to the antenna haired boy talking to Kataoka. Isogai looked up and smiled.

"I don't know about that, Hiroto, I have a feeling I would regret answering this question."

"You traitor! You fake Ikemen!" Maehara whined while Karma cackled.

"You were sa—" The door to the class was sled open once again and panting was heard as a very familiar voice echoed.

Dread washed over Karma.

"I am so sorry for being late!" But that's impossible, his ears are probably messing with him since he is irritable and is overthinking things.

"Oh, Okuda, it's good to see you back," Maehara waved to the source of the voice at the door and Karma slowly forced his eyes to look up and lock onto the girl apologizing to the orange head teen.

Everything froze and shattered around him. His eyes widened and unadulterated rage pumped into his blood as his teeth gritted nearly to dust.

A petite girl with long black hair combed into two braids resting on her shoulders. Big oval shaped glasses rested on her small nose that partially hid the lavender orbs behind them. A meek aura and timid behavior.

She looked a bit younger, but—

 ** _What is the witch doing here?_** He thought in trembling fury. He took a deep breath and forced his emotions back as he faced the clueless Maehara.

"Say, Maehara," The boy smiled at him, "Does she make potions?"

The orange head blinked at him for a long moment before his face paled and he started flailing. "No, please don't! I can't handle it if my face would be destroyed."

Karma normally would make a retort, but this reaction had given him his answer. The anger was overwhelming and he couldn't breathe, he needed to **_kill_** her. She needed to face the wrath of a mocked **_GOD_**. She can't be free from his grasp.

"Isogai, my beautiful face is in danger~" Maehara slinked from his chair and hid behind Isogai. The antenna boy sighed and smiled fondly, patting the other's head.

"Now, now, I'm sure that Karma won't do anything. Right, Karma?"

But the only answer they got was a very quiet redhead. Maehara shivered.

"I… I actually think he is serious this time," He mumbled in fear, "Please don't let Okuda and him be alone."

Light blue and hazel looked at the redhead with confusion and concern respectively.

Okuda trembled in her place as she felt the smoldering glare on her, almost running away from Karma to where Kurahashi and Kaede stood.

"Hey, Manami," Kurahashi greeted her, "How are you feeling?"

"B-better," Okuda turned to Kaede, trembling.

"Hello, my name is Kaede," The greenette greeted, still half attentive to the redhead, "It's nice to meet you."

"U-uh! M-my name is O-Okuda M-Mana-nami!" The braided girl greeted back, bowing slightly to the greenette, "Y-ou must be a n-new student."

"I am, so is Nagisa and Karma, the redhead who is glaring at you."

"S-so m-may I ask," Okuda fidgeted when she felt the glare intensify, "W-what did I-I do to make him s-s-o m-mad?"

"That's actually a very good question…" Kaede frowned disapprovingly at the redhead.

"D-do you th-think he-he wants to k-kill me?" Okuda asked in terror. Kaede shook her head and tried to sooth the girl while shooting warning scowls at her 'brother'.

At the end, only Aguri's entrance to the classroom had dissipated the raging bloodlust.

Instead, a deep tension dropped over the classroom.

Okuda was near tears.

* * *

"Do I need to be informed of something?" Aguri asked Kaede during the lesson when she stopped to check her progress on the Japanese questions. The greenette sighed and rested her forehead on her open palm.

"I don't know what happened, but the minute Okuda walked into the class, Karma started emitting this intense bloodlust," She elaborated and Aguri turned her head to look at the fuming redhead, "Could he had been reminded of someone?"

"Only one coming to mind is that witch he once said he hates…" The two went silent and exchanged wide eyes.

"Could it be…?"

"Sensei!" They turned to Nakamura, who raised her work sheet, "I need help with the last line."

"Be right there!" Aguri straightened and smiled reassuringly at Kaede, "We'll figure it out after school, alright?"

"Yep," Kaede nodded, hoping she could convince herself the way the woman did. She stole another glance at Karma, biting her pencil in worry.

She hopes it won't ruin their new lives.

* * *

"Say, Nagisa, are you okay? You seem a bit spaced out," A finger poked at the blunet's shoulder and Nagisa turned around to see Sugino frown worryingly.

"…" Nagisa blinked and glanced at Karma discreetly before shrugging.

"So I see you became friends at the end. Isn't that good for you, Sugino?" Said teen suddenly turned beet red and Nagisa tilted his head in wonder. Sugino flushed harder and gestured to the desk to his left, where a girl with flowing shimmering long black hair and light brown sparkling eyes smiled sweetly at Nagisa.

"This is Kanzaki Yukiko."

"Hello, Nagisa. It's very nice to meet you," Kanzaki greeted the blunet, who nodded and raised his hand in a wave like Sugino did previously. Then he examined his hand in wonder and then extended it to Kanzaki.

The girl chuckled and took the hand, shaking it shortly. "Such manners."

"He learned it from me," Sugino puffed his chest and said proudly. Kanzaki laughed softly and shook her head fondly. Nagisa nodded but then he shivered again and turned to look at Karma. Sugino and Kanzaki exchanged looks.

"Nagisa, is something wrong with Karma?" The blunet nodded and then turned to look at Okuda, who was talking to Kurahashi.

"Sh…e," He subtly pointed at her.

"What did Okuda do?"

"…" Nagisa shrugged.

"You three should be studying," Aguri's voice interrupted their conversation and the raven haired teens blushed and apologized while Nagisa simply stared at the woman, who seemed a bit exasperated at that.

"Nagisa, I really need to teach you some consciousness over your actions," She sighed and smiled warmly as she ruffled the blue hair. Nagisa frowned and swatted the hand away. Sugino chuckled and Aguri smiled.

"I see you already made a new friend, Nagisa," She said proudly, "Please take care of him, Sugino. He can be quite the handful sometimes."

"Oh, no problem. We get along just fine," Sugino waved his hand in dismissal, "He's a pretty decent guy."

Nagisa's lips turned up and Aguri's black eyes widened in shock. That was the first real smile she had seen from the blunet. Then they softened and she ruffled the blue hair once again before retreating to her chair, feeling happy that at least one of her future family was happy.

Now what to do with Karma…

* * *

"Okay, class is dismissed. Remember to finish your history reports for tomorrow," Aguri clasped her hands as the students stood up and chatter begun to fill the space. Kurahashi waved goodbye to Kaede and exited after Kataoka. Nakamura made a remark to Karma, but the silence that followed had her sigh and take her bag, leaving the room with a slightly dejected expression. Maehara knew better than to provoke the redhead and so dragged Isogai out. Mimura, Takebayashi and Kimura exited each in their own pace, Mimura talking to Takebayashi over something. Kanzaki and Sugino left as well after the latter said his goodbyes to Nagisa.

Okuda squeaked when she realized that she and Fuwa were the last ones in class and rushed out, having to pass by Karma on the way and trembled when she felt the murderous glare on her.

Fuwa was watching all of this with interest glinting in her eyes, but Aguri waved and said goodbye – a clear sign to get out, so Fuwa sighed and exited, upset about having to leave when the fun was just starting, closing the door in a loud thunk.

Now that the four of them were left alone in the class, a hush fell over them like a very smothering blanket.

"Karma, what was it all about?" Aguri was the first one to break the silence. Gold eyes rose up and Karma stood up from his place, hands buried in his pockets and a shaky smirk bolted on his face.

"What was what?" He said cheekily, "Seriously, what is with all the interrogation lately?"

"Karma," Aguri's voice was stern and she folded her arms loosely, "I can't help you if you won't tell me."

"Help me with what?" Karma was being stubborn, his smirk melting to a scowl.

"With Okuda, Karma," Aguri scowled as well. Karma's fists clenched and he gritted his teeth.

"Ka..ma," Nagisa stood up and went to the redhead, standing in front of him in a slightly tensed posture. Karma smirked and turned to face the confused blunet, folding his arms.

"Yes, Nagisa? Seemed like you learned some new words while mingling with your new friend. You must feel so smart now, maybe I should _thank him_ ," He said cheekily and Nagisa hissed, baring his teeth, body tensing further and eyes flashing. The smirk turned predatory as Karma stood up, towering over the blunet. "Yes, keep it up. Show me who you really are, not that two faced goody-goody baby you like showing to your _new_ _friend_."

"Karma, don't change the subject—" Nagisa's hiss stopped Kaede's warning and the redhead grinned almost madly as he stepped forward. Nagisa jumped back and then spun to kick the taller teen only for Karma to grab the foot and push it away and send in his own punch. Nagisa evaded it, leaping backwards to land on one of the tables, crouching while hissing in anger.

"Karma! Nagisa! Stop it the both of you!" Aguri demanded, but the two forces ignored her as Karma grabbed his book and flung it at the former snake, who caught the attack and threw the book back. Karma laughed wildly while evading the assault and jumped after Nagisa onto the table. Nagisa avoided a close combat by dropping to the floor and running to Aguri's table, climbing onto it.

"You two!" Aguri exclaimed but was once again ignored and she took a step forward when Karma grabbed a different book and raised it, making her freeze in horror as the implications sunk in.

"KA—"

"So tell me, _limbless_ , aren't you moving a bit too fluidly for a _snake_?" Karma mocked, "Tell me your secret~"

"Dd…nt!" Nagisa shot back and stood up, wavering from the table's uneven legs and Karma used that opening to fling the heavy book at the blunet, which struck him square in the face. Nagisa tumbled and fell onto the floor with a loud crash, immediately curling and holding his head as the chair fell on him.

" ** _KARMA!_** " Karma climbed down from his table just as Aguri came to him, eyes ablaze with fury. The teen looked at her in confusion—

_SMACK!_

Karma's eyes widened and his hand flew to his reddening cheek, his head flung to the side from the force of the slap and the burn sinking into his senses. Slowly he turned his eyes to the panting woman.

He barely noticed when the greenette slinked by him to the fallen blunet, only the woman's blazing anger. Who knew the kind woman could be so… overwhelming?

" _How dare you?_ " Aguri said with barely suppressed anger, " _How dare you hurt your brother to the point of potentially dealing him severe damage?_ "

Now that got his attention. Golden eyes turned hard as stone as the redhead straightened to his full height, towering over the woman. " _I'm at fault here?!_ **_Me?!_** _You always take **his** side, have you ever thought of **my** side of the story!? And don't ever think that harming a living being is beneath me! Anyone who mocks a god will end up under the ground **I** step on._ "

" _No_ , Karma," Aguri took a deep shaky breath to calm herself, her eyes still flaming, "You're no longer a god, you are a human. And a human won't ever harm his siblings so severely just because they got upset."

Karma growled, the sound more primal than she had ever remembered. " ** _Oh, so now I'm a measly human?_** "

"Karma, Nagisa was worried about you," Kaede said desperately, holding Nagisa as he stood up, "You were acting strangely ever since Okuda walked into the class. Is it because she reminds you of the witch?"

All fight flew out of Karma and he stared at her for a moment before pure, unadulterated vehemence shone behind his eyes and he walked to the greenette and snarled. " **Don't ever mutter that bitch's name in front of me.** "

"Karma, why are you so angry at her?" Kaede didn't seem to be afraid in front of the wrath and smiled softly.

" _She was the one to ruin me. She was the one to mock me and betray me,_ " Karma growled, growing more and more frustrated, " **She gave me the tampered ritual and made me a _human_. Me! The god who gave her everything!** "

"No…" Nagisa muttered, holding his head gingerly but otherwise seemingly unaffected. Karma turned his burning eyes and then was met by glowing light blue and Nagisa shook his head, hissing a bit in defense.

"No, what? Speak up, you useless snake!"

"Sh…ee… no… bit…ray," Nagisa forced out, placing his hands on Karma's clenched fists, "No! No.. hh… ate!"

" _And how the fuck would you know that!?_ " Karma shook the hands off, gritting his teeth, "How a puny existence like you would know something like betrayal or hate, **_huh!?_** You don't know anything. You should **grovel** on your feet and apologize to **_me._** "

"No," Nagisa shook his head again, eyes flashing, "Me… kno…know!" He seemed to remember something and did the last thing the redhead expected; he placed two fingers on Karma's two sides of mouth and lifted them up. "S..ma..eele!" He announced with a small shaky smile of his own.

It was silent.

Karma blinked at him for a long while before a small snort escaped his lips and suddenly the previously empowering tower of terror inducing wrath was reduced to chuckles and breathy laughter. Nagisa blinked at him in confusion and was suddenly wavering on his legs as the heavy head fell onto his shoulder, red hair hiding Karma's face as the taller boy was hiccuping sobs and coughing chuckles.

"I hate you so much, you useless snake," Karma said between his huffs and coughs, "I hate you so much. Why do you have to remind me so much of _him_? Why do I have to lower myself to something less than dirt? I hate you… I hate you..."

Nagisa was frozen, and was looking for help at Kaede, who stood shell-shocked as well, and at the tear-stained Aguri, who was covering her mouth in worry and hope, but to no avail.

Then Kaede slowly begun to laugh as well and approached them, engulfing them both with her arms as she sobbed and laughed.

"You idiots," She muttered, "You two are just idiots… to worry me so much. Karma, I don't know what she had done, but I don't believe for a moment that she did it on purpose. And never think that we care more about Nagisa than you, because it's not true. You are simply the older brother, and by default according to Hinano, you bear most of the responsibility. Nagisa has the mentality of a baby, so he needs guidance. He needs you."

"Greenie?"

"Hmm?"

"Shut up. I'm not an idiot." Kaede huffed a laugh and shook her head at the obvious relief in his voice.

"Sorry, but you're stuck with a blabbering sister."

"What am I to do with you three?" Aguri sighed to herself, rubbing her eyes and taking a deep breath before stepping forward and circling her arms around the growing group hug.

"You're suffocating me!" Karma exclaimed and Nagisa squeaked. The girls laughed but didn't move.

"You know, I still have to punish you for throwing a book at your brother in a way that could have harmed him for good," Aguri reminded Karma.

"Don't worry, he has a thick head," Karma grumbled, taking deep breaths since apparently he was still not over the incident.

Nagisa hissed and everyone cracked up.

"S..to…pp!" Nagisa hissed again, getting the opposite result from what his word asked.

"You guys are going to be the death of me…" Aguri said after a while, "I love you guys."

"...Shut up…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	15. Past of Errors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> p.s. i miss Nagisa! someone draw me some nagisa being the badass he is! I BEG OF YOU!

"Admit it. You got jealous of Sugino." Something was poking Karma's shoulder in the car. He growled and swatted the hand away.

"No I wasn't."

"You totally were. I remember the glares you sent him when they returned to the class and you saw how much of an impact he had on Nagisa," She was grinning evilly.

"For the last time—"

"It's not a crime to think of him a brother, you know," The driver chuckled. The subject of their conversation was curled in his side of the car, sleeping soundly. Karma grumbled and rested his head against the window, jolting slightly at every bump. Kaede grinned in amusement and turned to Nagisa and gave him a rub in the back, noticing the small smile blooming on Nagisa's face, she chuckled.

"He's so cute when he smiles. It's so weird though," She commented. Aguri nodded.

"I know. When I saw Sugino drag him inside, I wondered what Nagisa would feel about it. I'm so glad they're becoming good friends."

"Well, someone clearly isn't~" Kaede smirked at Karma's disgruntled expression. The redhead growled at her and pushed her head away so she was nearly sprawling over Nagisa. Aguri sighed, already getting used to their antics and lack of personal space. "Karma, Nagisa is sleeping, try not to wake him up."

"Why not? I'm tired and greenie should just learn to leave people alone," Karma gave one last push and closed his eyes, hoping to catch a quick nap before reaching home.

"Say, Karma?" Kaede's voice was suddenly soft, nearly a whisper. He sighed and knowing that his headache is coming soon, he turned to the greenette.

"What?"

"I just remembered, but during that… fight," Kaede bit her lip when she said that, clearly unhappy with the memory, "When you told Nagisa that he doesn't know anything about betrayal and hatred... he said that he knows… do you think that he was also betrayed?"

"If he did, I would be surprised," He grumbled, the anticipated headache indeed appearing, and with guests. Hazel eyes widened and he huffed, "I thought he wasn't supposed to know anything, idiot."

"Well, he was a snake, so obviously he knew some stuff."

"Yes. Hunting and spitting venom, that is," He smirked and she pouted.

"Well, something obviously made him abnormal, if we go by your announcement."

"He could have been abnormal from the beginning, he was a shrine freeloader after all," He shrugged, boring holes into Aguri's chair. Why is the ride so long all of the sudden? He feels as if the woman is purposely delaying the time of their arrival.

Unbeknownst to him, Aguri was driving slower since she was wrapped in her own thoughts from the second Kaede had made her inquiry. The woman was recalling Yada's deductions about Nagisa's presumed indifference prior to today.

Karma and Kaede were worried for their relationship with her and their newly found friendships while Nagisa… doesn't seem to be worried about anything. Even with the progress of speech and behavior courtesy of Sugino, he seems more prone to confusion and anger than any actual feelings. Even the tears from that night didn't appear again and she was starting to suspect that maybe she had imagined them.

She was worried about that.

"Aguri-nee, are you alright?" Kaede's voice pierced the veil of her thoughts and she jolted, noticing that they were already parked by the house. When did they get home? She was pretty reckless, which is not a good thing. Focus, Aguri! She shook her head to clear it and turned to give the greenette a big smile, her hands feeling clammy all of the sudden.

Is she really feeling nervous in front of her future little sister?

"I'm alright, Kaede. It just has been a long day and I'm still worried about those two," She ruffled the green hair and stepped out of the car, locking it behind her and looking at the two boys as the redhead cursed at the blunet since the latter was using him as a support for his wobbly legs.

"It sure has been a long day for those two, huh?" She wondered to herself. Kaede nodded and then leading the woman to the house.

* * *

"Where's Karma?" Aguri sighed when she emerged from her room later that evening. Kaede raised her head from the book, from which she was reading to a nodding off Nagisa. Kaede closed the book and Nagisa fell asleep over her knees, causing Aguri to laugh softly to herself.

"I think he's napping in our room," Kaede said, "It was a long day… Nagisa and he are wiped out."

"So you read to him because…?"

"Because I wanted him to hear more words and practice them," Kaede elaborated, "I think that because we don't make him talk enough, he isn't progressing. Dealing with Sugino, someone who can't just understand him through simple signs and noises, forced him to talk more."

"That would make sense…" Aguri held her chin for a moment before smiling warmly and giving the greenette a quick embrace before rushing to the kitchen, "I'll make an extra delicious meal to thank you."

"Yay~" Kaede's cheer could be heard and Aguri giggled to herself, pleased.

"Time to cook."

* * *

"How did you sleep, Karma?" She greeted a groggy redhead at dinner. Kaede and Nagisa had already finished their food and retreated to the guest room, the greenette waking up the redhead to get his own part of the meal.

Karma looked at her and yawned in answer, pulling back the chair and slumping onto it, the entire process accompanied by heavy steps and half opened eyes. Aguri had to suppress her laughter; it was unreasonably adorable and a whole new experience to be honest with herself. She had never seen Karma this sleepy and unguarded around her.

But it did make her sad, that he didn't feel safe enough around her to be so unguarded and that only being exhausted had him lower his walls.

Nonetheless, she smiled warmly and placed the plate of meat and potato in front of him and sat across the table, looking at him affectionately. He slowly cut the meat and potatoes and ate very quietly, munching like in a daze and barely raising his head more than necessary.

The silence was peaceful and Aguri contented herself with watching the boy just be a boy instead of the big presence she always felt from him. It was endearing and reminded her that Karma was also a teenager who needed her help, not a young man with illusions of grandeur.

"Say, Karma," Golden eyes blinked blearily and rose up, the boy regarding her in question, "Why didn't you say anything about our treatment? If you felt so strongly about how you are being treated, you should have said something before."

The fork froze on the way to his mouth, then lowered and fell onto the plate as Karma interlaced his fingers and rested his forehead on them, his elbows on both sides of the plate.

"'A god should never be so pathetic as to resort to whining'," Karma quoted as if from a memory, "My old man's favorite line. I was a rebellious youngling god, as my nature had dictated. 'A prankster should never be swayed by emotions as sadness or anger, only cold judgement as you strike karma onto the guilty is allowed' - that rule was made so I won't strike the innocent out of pettiness."

"You're allowed to feel emotions, you know," Aguri said softly, her hands clenching tightly on her knees. She felt anger bubble in her over the people who drilled those words into Karma's growing mind. Oh, how could they make such a bright boy submit to their twisted words? She wanted to hold the redhead and tell him that he's allowed to feel whatever he wants. That no one has a right over his thoughts and feelings. She knew that she can't burst in outrage right there since Karma's half-awake state was so rare and so fragile so she simply sat there, hoping her feelings would get across somehow. She didn't want to awaken him completely and have the door shut in her face.

"I know," He murmured, "In the two hundred years after I met the witch, I learned many things about myself including my emotions. Before that, the only one who felt my hot rage was Odin and that's only because of my sense of justice. I was so pathetic then…" He chuckled sadly, "I didn't realize how self-centered the gods were until I missed my chance to save—" He clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.

"Save who, Karma?"

"'Never mind. I was just tired," Karma raised his head, his smirk stitched onto his mouth, "Forget that, just a stupid dream."

"Karma," Aguri sighed and stood up, circling the table and sitting next to the redhead and placing her hand on his shoulder, "Listen to me. I want to know you. I want to know who you were before you came here, what caused you to be so sad. I want to heal you and give you better lives."

"You're a human, Aguri," He rolled his eyes, "You're very destructive species. Perhaps the gods are self-centered, but they never destroyed earth just because."

"Well then, I'll just have to show you that not all humans are destructive," She grinned, "And first things first, I'll make you my little brother. Then we can finally go to trips and to the city."

"You keep us here because we don't have records yet?" He raised a brow and she nodded, "Why?"

"Because there is a chance that if the police – the force to uphold civilians, enforce law and more – will see you and ask you for your identity and realizes that you don't have any, they will arrest you and force you out of the country. I don't want that."

"They don't check houses?"

"Not really. Not unless they have a reason to," She shook her head, "And I'm a very nice neighbor so no one suspects any foul play from me."

"…" He lowered his head, seeming to mull over her words before huffing a chuckle, "I guess I never did thank you for keeping us here."

"Thank me? Why?" She blinked in confusion and he stared at her as if she had worn one of her ridiculous outfits again, which… she was actually wearing currently to be fair.

"We told you we know that it's not free to keep us here," He said incredulously, "Greenie was all panicky over that."

"Oh," She blinked, recalling the conversation. "But it's for my future family," She smiled warmly, "I will do anything to keep them safe."

"…You're weird. No wonder greenie and limbless took to you so quickly…"

"I will take that as a compliment, thank you," She smiled brightly and Karma smiled in amusement.

"Damn it, I'm not making you flustered anymore," He shrugged. Then he stood up, yawning and stretching, "Well, I should head to bed. Don't want to deal with Limbless without proper sleep."

"Wait." He stopped and turned to her. She stood up and gathered him in her arms, "You're my precious family and I love you very dearly. You're not alone, alright?"

He was silent for a long moment before huffing. "You're suffocating me," He pushed her gently away, burying one hand into his pocket and with the other waved to her, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight…"

"Oh," He stopped by the entrance to the hall, turning to her, "Thank you for giving me some boredom cure."

"Wha—" But he already disappeared into the hall. She stared at the entrance for a few more seconds before snorting and laughing softly to herself.

Seriously, those kids would the death of her one day.

* * *

_"I will get you out of here, little brother. You won't have to suffer for long."_

_" **How dare you!?** "_

_"Stop it! No, leave him alone!"_

_" **Get out of my sight!** "_

_"I won't! Just let him—"_

" _Go…_ " Golden eyes snapped open and the redhead found himself in the bed with the blunet sleeping behind him and Kaede on the other side of the blunet. He took some shuddering breaths and covered his face with his clammy hand. He was covered in cold sweat, only broken by the burn in his eyes.

He hated this. He hated feeling this vulnerable. He thought he had put this behind him. That he had moved on. But ever since landing in this cursed place, he couldn't stop but think of the past. Heh, he huffed a broken chuckle, he is so pathetic.

"Ka..ma?" Golden eyes blinked and the redhead turned his head to see Nagisa rub his eyes, hovering over him with sleep still clouding his expression, "Ke…iy?"

Karma sighed and sat up, too tired and broken to keep up his annoyance, "Yes, I was just dreaming of something stupid."

"St..pid…" Nagisa echoed, sitting down and tilting his head at the redhead.

"What?" He gave him a narrowed look. Nagisa raised his fingers only to be stopped by a hand grabbing them. Golden eyes narrowed even more in rekindled annoyance, "Don't you dare. You do that ever again and I kick you, understand?"

Nagisa hissed a bit in alarm, but soon registered the words and simply nodded, retracting his hands and putting them between his folded legs. Karma suddenly had an urge to ask something of the blunet.

"Say," Blue eyes looked up, "How do you know of betrayal and hatred?"

It was faint, _very_ faint, and the darkness of the room would have hidden it well if not for Karma's sharp eyes and Nagisa's slightly dimming glowing eyes. The subtle flinch the smaller body gave was suspicious and Karma felt a shiver coming up his spine when the blue glow suddenly retrieved its fervor and gained the strange feeling of danger.

"Oi, calm down," He said firmly, but it seemed that Nagisa didn't hear him, eyes penetrating him and mouth opened in a deep throaty hiss. Now Karma was a bit concerned and waved his hand before the other's face.

When he didn't receive an answer, he raised his hand and smacked the other across the head. Nagisa yelped, nursing his head for a moment before annoyed blue eyes looked up, all traces of the danger gone.

Kaede snorted loudly and turned onto her stomach but was otherwise undisturbed. Thank Odin.

"Ssto..pp!" The boy hisses and Karma gave the best smirk he could muster at the moment.

"Sorry, but you're annoying." What was that? It happened before when the blunet got sincerely angry. Are those remnants from his snake days? And what happened to make him so mad he almost went ballistic?

Nagisa's yawn had cut his train of thought and he rolled his eyes, pushing the blue head onto the pillow. "Go to sleep, limbless. You have school tomorrow."

But Nagisa already fell asleep.

He cursed in annoyance. Seriously, that good for nothing snake… he turned so his back was facing the other and closed his eyes.

Then he jolted when he felt something grab his shirt, only calming down when he felt Nagisa's breaths over his back. He was tempted to push the other away but he was so tired…

He fell asleep at the end without doing anything, lulled by Nagisa's and Kaede's soft snores.

He was alone for so long...

A single tear fell from his closed eye.

* * *

"Come on, wake up, Nagisa~" Kaede was whining in the morning as she shook the slumbering blunet, "We have school!"

Nagisa stayed stubbornly asleep. Karma had enough of the drama and was in the process of searching for some clothes, clad only in his boxers. Kaede ducked under a used shirt and snapped at him.

"Would you stop throwing your sleeping clothes on us? We're not the laundry!"

"Oh, sorry. But you are green and the basket is green, so I was so sure~" Karma grinned mischievously. Kaede grabbed the shirt and threw it at him. He laughed and caught the cloth, dropping it next to him, "And shouldn't you be waking limbless up?"

"I was in the middle when a glorified jerk decided I'm a bin!" She huffed and returned to Nagisa, shaking him again.

"Come on, Nagisa! Don't you want to see Sugino?" That did it. Blue eyes opened and the blunet groggily yawned and rubbed his eyes. Kaede cheered and hugged the confused boy, "Finally! I was so sure Karma did something to you last night since you wouldn't wake up!"

"I'm not some petty god who picks up on sleeping snakes…" Karma grumbled and Kaede smirked, rubbing her cheek to Nagisa's tousled hair.

"Are you jealous that it was Sugino's name that woke Nagisa up?"

Karma glared at her. "As if."

She laughed. "Oh, how sweet! Such a protective big brother~"

"Shut. Up!"

"Mm…ing…" Nagisa dazedly waved to the redhead. Karma gritted his teeth but managed to nod and turn to his clothes. Kaede chuckled and drew back from the blunet, taking out a comb Aguri bought her and started combing through the long blue locks, at the end taking some of the front locks and tying them together on the scalp.

"Shouldn't you just tie all the hair?" Karma raised a brow. Kaede grinned at him.

"But I wanted to try a new hairstyle on him. Don't you think it makes seem more of a book lover?" She turned the blunet to face the redhead, who started laughing at the already sleeping boy.

"I think he should be categorized in the 'forever sleeping' hairstyle."

"You're no fun," Kaede pouted and quickly undid the tie and pulled the hair to a high ponytail, shaking the other awake and dragging him off the bed to get dressed up as well.

It was silent as they changed clothes and Karma was subjected to holding the hair ties as Kaede braided her hair in a thick braid then switching to the brush when she was tying her hair.

"I'm not your slave, you know," He reminded her when they went out of the room, the redhead dragging the half-asleep blunet. Kaede smiled warmly and patted his arm.

"Thank you, big brother."

"… Whatever…" He passed her and walked swiftly to the dining table, where Aguri was yawning over the steaming plates.

"Oh, good morning, you took your time," She greeted them, "Made some toast with jam and eggs. Hurry up and eat… oh, Nagisa, just the one I was looking for!" The woman perked up and stood up, taking Nagisa from the bewildered redhead and dragged him to the kitchen, the door slamming shut behind them.

"What happened?" Kaede asked when she noticed the absence of the blunet and the woman. The redhead turned to her and started to laugh.

"I think Aguri finally went mad," He shook his head and sat down, "We should eat before she decides to eat us as well."

"Eat us…? Humans eat one another?!"

"No idiot, it was joke," Karma sighed.

"…I knew that…" Kaede chuckled nervously and sat down, starting to eat without sparing another glance to the kitchen door.

* * *

"Finished!" A much more awake Aguri burst into the living room half an hour later, with no sign of the blunet. The redhead and greenette exchanged alarmed glances at the woman's cheerful mood.

"Uh… I really hope you weren't correct on your joke, Karma," Kaede squeaked.

"What joke?" Aguri asked happily, coming to stand by the table. She blinked at their flinch and steering away from her, "What's wrong? Did I do something?"

"You ate our precious brother!" Kaede exclaimed, "How could you?"

"Ate your brother… what?" Aguri's smile fell and she stared at them as if they went insane, "What are you talking about? Nagisa is just finishing tying the cloths."

"Cloths?" Aguri sighed and turned to the kitchen.

"Nagisa, can you bring the boxes out?" After a long moment of tense silence, during which the two had gave Aguri dubious looks, the door squeaked open and the blunet entered the living room, carrying a pile of green cloth covered boxes.

Kaede let out a big sigh of relief, then looked at the boxes and narrowed her eyes in thought.

"They look like those O-bentos Hinano brings to school…" She pondered out loud.

"Yeah, I thought that since Nagisa's cooking skills got so good, that I would have him help me make some lunch for you since I never had time before. Sorry about that, by the way," Aguri apologized as she took the lunch boxes from the blunet and distributed one for each of them.

"Thank you, Aguri, Nagisa," Kaede smiled brightly. Nagisa nodded and sat down to eat his now cold breakfast, managing to swallow the toast just before Karma grabbed the collar of his shirt and hauled him to the door, the girls already putting on their shoes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	16. A Glimpse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, i have some serious news to tell you and they ain't pretty.
> 
> *sigh* on sunday morning... at around 5:25-6:00 in the morning... my father had passed away at home and it was messy and filled with us trying to revive him... and... and it's hard for me to get used to the idea and my face felt like it's peeling off from how much i screamed and cried so... and my head hurts badly... i had a point to make... oh, right.
> 
> anyways. after i post this chapter (i had prepared last week so it wasn't influenced by what had occurred), i think... i think i'm going to take a break from writing. we'll see how i feel after we finish the shiv'a on Sunday.
> 
> thank you all for your support and i love you all.
> 
> please enjoy the chapter.
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^

"Morning, Nagisa!" Sugino greeted the blunet later that morning, laughing at the sight of the boy sleeping with his face on the desk. "Any reason he's sleeping as if he stayed up the whole night?" He joked to Kaede while poking the blunet's shoulder, chuckling when Nagisa hissed softly and swatted weakly at the offending finger.

Kaede shook her head, a big smile etched on her face, "Poor thing likes to sleep and hates to wake up for school. If it was up to him, he would sleep all day."

"Which he was doing the entire week we came without him," Karma rolled his eyes, "And probably all the time before that."

Sugino laughed. "I have to admit, you guys really act like siblings."

Kaede eyed him. "What do you mean?"

The raven haired boy immediately raised his hands in surrender. "You guys all seem to be quirky, to be honest," He chuckled sheepishly, "And with Yukimura-sensei's—"

The door opened and Aguri came inside. Some of the students chuckled and some groaned. Sugino grinned and gestured with his thumb at the teacher's shirt, "—interesting shirts, you really seem to be related."

Kaede started to laugh and Karma smirked.

Aguri looked between them and the classmates, then at her shirt and sighed. "No good this time as well, huh? I thought I was doing so well for the past week since no one commented on it…"

Her shirt had a big punk banana on it.

"We figured it was something normal since no one commented at it," Kaede wiped her tears of mirth.

"Well, we thought you would get insulted so we didn't mention anything," Kanzaki joined into the conversation, smiling kindly as she greeted the two, "You seem very close after all."

Karma snorted and Kaede beamed. "Aguri-nee is the best sister in the world after all."

"Greenie, you don't have anyone to base it on so shove it." The greenette turned to the smirking redhead and growled at him, but couldn't do anything since Aguri clasped her hands and started class again.

Sugino was kind enough to shake Nagisa awake.

* * *

"Wow, I never realized how long is your hair since you always had them in ponytails," Kurahashi was admiring the long thick braid, "I wish I had hair this nice..."

"Your hair is really pretty as well," Kaede blushed a bit, flattered, "I just got tired of having the same hairstyle so..."

"Then why not do Nagisa's hair in a braid as well? His hair is long enough for that."

"Well, He would fiddle with it too much," The greenette shrugged, "Besides, a ponytail fits him, no?"

Kurahashi glanced to where Sugino was being dragged away by the blunet out of the class. "It does," She chuckled and stood up, "We should go to!"

Kaede nodded and barely managed to grab something from her bag before being dragged as well. "So my mom made those really good fried chicken last night and I just _must_ make you taste them!" Kurahashi told the greenette after they sat down at their usual spot to eat. Kaede grinned foxily and revealed from her back the covered box.

"I thought you don't bring lunch," The orange haired girl eyed her curiously.

Kaede nodded. "But since I now have friends who eat during lunch and Nagisa has been practicing his cooking, Aguri-nee had decided to let him try making lunch boxes for us."

Kurahashi stared at the box in astonishment. "So he can cook? It's hard to see him do it since he is so shy and sleeps so much."

"Yep, he is actually a very good cook despite not touching a knife before coming to live with Aguri-nee."

"Wow, that's pretty neat. Can we exchange some of the food? I want to try it!" Kurahashi took out her O-bento and opened it, offering Kaede the crispy brown balls.

Kaede immediately took out her fork and snatched one, melting when she chewed on it. "It's so good~"

"Still using a fork, I see," Kurahashi chuckled and opened the other's lunch box, snapping apart her chopsticks and taking some of the eggs, eyes widening when she swallowed one, "This is really good!"

"Isn't it? I'm so proud of him! Only a few days ago he made us some pasta and cheese!" Kaede bragged, puffing her chest out.

"Amazing! You must be so proud of your little brother," The orange added, "I'm glad you have each other."

Kaede froze, then slowly relaxed her body, looking at the slightly alarmed orange head with a blissful expression and smiled, "Yes. Yes, I'm glad too."

She doesn't know where she would have been without them.

She is so glad she doesn't have to find out.

* * *

"Where are we going, Nagisa?" Sugino inquired of the boy. The moment that Aguri had dismissed them, Nagisa stood up. Not having a moment to ask the other what was wrong, Nagisa grabbed a covered box, came to his desk, grabbed his wrist and dragged him outside.

Nakamura stood dejected next to the blunet's desk with a frustrated pout, like a baby who got his favorite toy taken. Sugino glanced at her in pity, but didn't blame the blunet for running away.

Which brings him back to this scene of Nagisa holding his lunch box with his teeth and hoisting himself on a low branch, nimbly climbing up the tree. Sugino gazed at the footwork in admiration and then followed the blunet, hoping to learn more about the boy.

"What is it, Nagisa?" He asked when he sat on the same branch they did the previous day, deeming it safe since no strange sounds came this time around. Nagisa looked away and then back to him, considering something when suddenly a small hand grabbed Sugino's arm and pulled him closer so he settled behind the blunet. Sugino watched as Nagisa turned around and pushed the rustling leaves and branches away, revealing the clearing of the classroom and the other side of the trees. Nagisa's lit up eyes told the brunet that it was an exciting sight for him, but…

"It's just the classroom building, Nagisa, nothing special about it…" Blue eyes gave him a confused blink and Sugino chuckled, "Well, I guess for you it is quite exciting since you have never seen it before.

How about I'll show some good spots that we can see from here—"

"Sugino! Nagisa! What are you doing up there?" Yukimura-sensei's voice came from underneath the tree.

"Oh crap," Sugino flinched when he saw his teacher's shocked expression from the space Nagisa had cleared with his hands.

"Come down right now!"

"Uh… Nagisa, we should go…" He was sad to leave since it meant no teaching or showing stuff to the blunet, but Yukimura-sensei seems pretty upset… "Come on," He nudged Nagisa away from the branch the blunet followed him silently, not seeming to care much about the change in their plans, which was frankly, quite worrying.

"What have you been thinking to yourself? You know I don't allow students to climb on trees in case of an accident," Yukimura-sensei sounded panicked as she fussed over him and Nagisa, trying to find any injuries.

"Sorry sensei, but Nagisa likes climbing trees and he wanted to show me something." Yukimura-sensei sighed fondly at that and turned to the blunet, who was fiddling with the cloth covering his lunch box.

"Now Nagisa, I know you still are not used to the city, but do realize you're not supposed to climb on every tree you see," His teacher said sternly, then sighed when Nagisa simply blinked, "And you still don't feel guilt, huh?" Somehow, the way she said it sent shivers up Sugino's spine, as if he wasn't supposed to hear them.

He shook the feeling off and chuckled sheepishly, "I promise we won't climb any more trees."

"Good," She nodded and smiled warmly at him, "I trust you to take care of him. Nagisa is a… an interesting kid."

Nagisa frowned and muttered something which she only laughed at and gave him a short embrace, before ruffling his hair and waving them as she went to the teacher's lounge. Sugino sighed and patted the blunet's shoulder.

"Sorry for getting you in trouble, I knew Yukimura-sensei doesn't allow climbing trees and I still didn't say anything, forgive me?"

"F…give?" Nagisa blinked at him in confusion. Okay, it was official. This kid lived under a rock, which next to his siblings who seemed to know a bit more, it was unsettling. He smiled nonetheless and pondered on how to explain this.

He wasn't an idiot. Obviously at first he thought that Nagisa's stuttering and half said words were him just being shy and not used to strangers, but when he noticed that the blunet barely spoke to his family either and somehow they understood him, he realized that it was something else. But since he only knew Nagisa for a day, he felt that it was too early to actually ask anything so invasive (could help the letter that was _obviously_ Karma's despite the other's denial that had warned him from asking anything. Seriously, those siblings…).

"Well… it's when you did something wrong to a person like say… uh, you hurt him or insulted him, and you know you were wrong. So you tell that person 'I'm sorry' to let him know that you are… regretting? Yeah, that's a good word. You're regretting the action and want to make amends? Something like that," He laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry, can't really explain it so well."

"Kay…" Nagisa smiled very faintly and slightly rocked on his toes, looking around him in wonder. Sugino smiled fondly back and grabbed the boy's wrist, leading him towards the classroom building.

"Wha—?" Sugino stopped just by the wall and sat down under the big window, letting Nagisa sit by him.

Gold flickered by the window behind them.

"So instead of seeing the place from the tree, we can see it from here, alright?" Nagisa blinked and looked forward, seeing the entire clearing spread before them and the view of the city in the distance. His light blue eyes sparkled in interest and suddenly Sugino was reminded of the surprise he brought in his pocket. He took it out and gained the other's attention.

"Remember I said I would bring a baseball?" Nagisa's tilted his head then shook it and Sugino recalled saying that while he was shaking the boy and chuckled nervously, "Yeah… anyways, so I brought it. Wanted to play some catch, alright?"

Nagisa raised a brow and poked the ball, "Wha… it's?"

"You don't know what a baseball is?" A shake of the head, "You know what a ball is?" It took a moment, but then the light blue eyes cleared and Nagisa nodded but then narrowed his eyes and made an air ball with his hands and spread them.

"Bi…gr?" Sugino blinked then shrugged.

"Well, regular balls are bigger, but a baseball is supposed to be small, since it needs to travel short distances in high speed."

Then he stood up and started explaining about the game rules to a fascinated looking blunet.

It felt good.

The gold vanished.

* * *

"—and then he raised his hand and threw his famous curveball, all the way from the shoulder!" Sugino was gesturing widely with the ball clutched in his hand, making a motion of throwing the ball.

Nagisa was watching with wide eyes, mesmerized by the enthusiasm the raven head was showing and the sparkling dark blue eyes.

"And then the batter swings and misses! It's a strike!" Sugino exclaimed with his arm raised really high, but then he froze. Nagisa blinked and tilted his head in confusion at the sudden change of aura, startling when he felt the gloom roll in waves from the raven head.

Sugino sighed heavily and lowered his hand, staring at his hand still holding the baseball, eyes clouded with sadness.

"You know about the class' situation right?" Nagisa blinked and Sugino chuckled mirthlessly, "Of course not. Well, when we are being sent here, we are thrown out of the clubs we were formerly…"

"S…gin…" Nagisa stood up and placed his hand on the other's back, "Wha…"

Sugino's hand trembled. "Nagisa… I was so happy with my baseball club. I was the ace for a while until Shindo came around and surpassed me. Of course, I didn't care. I wanted to have a rival so I welcomed him and we trained together. And now I was kicked here because of my grades and was kicked out of the club… I have no more worth…" Sugino mumbled almost to himself, and Nagisa's eyes narrowed warily at the sight of the gloom intensifying. He rubbed the other's back and forced Sugino to turn to him.

"T's kay…" Nagisa took a deep breath, "Can…ss.. till p…lay."

Sugino shook his head. "With whom? Who can still play with me? I… I wish I could still play…"

Then something hit Nagisa dead in the chest and he stumbled on his spot when strange noises buzzed in his ears, accompanied by a growing high pitched buzz.

**_"…"_ **

**_"…"_ **

**_"..elp us!_ ** _"_

_" **Kill them!** "_

_" **Save me!** "_

_" **Kill me!** "_

_" **Hello there, little one.** "_

_" **Will you be my friend?** "_

_" **I wish I could play.** "_

"— _Sor_ ry about that," Sugino's voice snapped him out of his stupor and Nagisa blinked, shaking the strange thoughts out of his head and smiled softly, "I guess I just spaced out there."

"T's kay…" Nagisa nodded, "Can… ss.. till lay."

Sugino smiled in relief and ruffled the other's hair. "Should we head back to—whoa!" He exclaimed when a small hand gripped his wrist in a surprisingly strong grip and dragged him away and looked up to see a strange expression on the blunet's face.

He looked almost… excited.

A smile blossomed on Sugino's face and he laughed as he ran past Nagisa and started dragging him instead.

* * *

Kaede and Kurahashi were interrupted when a very nervous looking Okuda stood beside Kurahashi's desk, fidgeting with her hands.

"Yes, Manami?" Kurahashi asked her kindly, "Are you alright? You seem very agitated."

"I-I just want t-to ask i-if K-Karma st-still hates me," The girl asked, squeaking when Kaede snorted.

"Don't worry about him. He was just being overdramatic. You simply reminded him of someone, you're fine," Kaede smiled at her reassuringly, which turned confused when the girl nodded and marched towards the redhead, still trembling like a leaf.

"Yes?" Karma asked the girl when he noticed her standing in front of his desk. His chin was propped on his open palm and his eyes lazily stared at her, amused by her shaking form.

"I do-don't know wh-why you h-hate me-me so m-much, b-but I d-didn't d-do anything to-to des-serve this tre-treatment," She stuttered, quickly losing her courage at the sight of his bored gaze.

"You do realize I could barely understand you," He smirked, "And besides, should a chicken really ask me that? Try being a little more than that and I'll consider."

Okuda squeaked in indignation. "You l-looked like y-you were trying t-to kill m-me!" She huffed, hands clenched to fists at the sides of her body.

Karma looked at her, _really looked_ and Okuda started fidgeting, pushing the brim of her glasses up her nose, "I th-thought of tr-trying being your f-friend. B-but you—"

"Do you remember me?" He interrupted her. She jolted and her glasses reflected the light, hiding her eyes.

"W-what? Remember you from where?" She sounded genuinely confused, which made his shoulders sag slightly, "Is th-that why yo-you hate me—"

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Huh?" Wide lavender eyes widened in shock and confusion, "Y-you're sorry?"

"Well, I mistook you to some ignorant fool I knew," Karma shrugged, "So my bad."

"O-oh, okay…" The girl was in loss of what to do. Then karma grinned and his eyes glinted mischievously.

"If you want to be friends, I have no problem, but I'll be using your potions a lot."

"Potions? B-but I only m-make formulas… eek!" Okuda squeaked when Karma's eyes darkened and she flailed, "U-uh, I-I'll try my best!"

"Good, glad to know!" Karma's grinned brightly and reclined back in his chair. "Oh, and please stop stuttering so much, it gives me a headache."

"Huh?"

What just happened?

"Karma, you scared Manami shitless~" Nakamura drawled, hugging the frightened braided girl from behind, shooting a slightly hesitant grin at the redhead, not knowing where she was standing right now after the fiasco with Nagisa.

Karma regarded her then smirked and Nakamura's body relaxed. "Well, she is useful, so I'll try my best to be nice."

"Rio-san!" Okuda stammered, "I-I am no toy!"

"Of course not~ We're just playing with you," Nakamura teased, pinching the girl's cheeks. Karma raised his finger and beckoned Nakamura to come closer. Confused, the blonde released the bespectacled girl and came to stand next to the redhead, a bit worried.

He grinned and opened his palm. "Can you show me how to get pictures with your device?"

Nakamura stared at him for a moment before smirking and cracking up. "You don't have a phone, Karma?"

He regarded her a bit in annoyance, despite his cheeks coloring a bit. "Well, never needed it before."

"Despite having Nagisa as your brother?" She smirked, realizing her mistake too late.

His eyes flashed but he forced on a smirk. "Well, he's a useless snake so no need."

"A snake, huh?" Nakamura placed a finger on her chin, "He likes snakes? He seems more like a rabbit."

"You would be surprised," Karma rolled his eyes, "The kid is a monster just waiting to kill you. Greenie is the rabbit."

"What are you then?" Gold eyes looked up and flashed in dark mischief.

"I'm just your everyday prankster."

* * *

Nagisa was silent during the rest of the day, responding only to Sugino's queries and even then with only a nod or a small faint smile. Kaede tried poking him or even pinch his cheek, but the blunet remained unresponsive.

"What happened during lunch break?" Kaede demanded quietly from the concerned raven head but Sugino had no idea.

"I got a little depressed because of some thoughts and he tried to cheer me up and suddenly he became all quiet like now," He explained, "I swear his eyes seemed like they were glowing for a moment, but when I called his name he snapped back and dragged me back to the class. He even seemed excited for some reason."

Kaede mulled over the information; could it be that Sugino triggered something from Nagisa's past? Maybe that's why the blunet had reacted so well to the boy. She eyed the distressed blue eyed teen and smiled reassuringly, "I'm sure he is just sad because you got depressed. I can almost promise he would look into things to make you feel better when we get home."

She didn't realize how right she would be.

The minute they arrived home after a very surprisingly quiet ride with Aguri shooting apprehensive looks every other second to the blunet, Nagisa jumped out and rushed to Aguri's door, flinging it open and grabbing the woman's arm.

"Wha—?" Aguri barely had a second to register the action before she was dragged to the house, "W-wait, Nagisa! I need to lock the car!"

"What is he up to now?" Karma asked annoyingly as he and Kaede stood next to the car, brows high and eyes wide. Kaede shook her head, "We probably should follow, though."

They found Nagisa trying to say something in the living room to the baffled woman.

"U-uh… Nagisa, I can't understand what you're saying," Aguri was looking a bit overwhelmed, and the two couldn't blame her; this was the most emotional state Nagisa has ever been in. they had never seen him this animated or driven.

Was he finally opening up?

Kaede approached the two and placed a hand on Nagisa's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. "Nagisa, slow down and repeat what you're trying to tell us, alright?"

Nagisa stopped his antics and looked at her, his eyes seemingly glowing and she mentally frowned – it felt… dangerous. Is this his snake side coming out? Then he took a deep breath and made a cupping motion with his hands.

"Sssee... watszch... ba... lle!" He motioned to his eyes and made the cupping motion again.

Kaede stared at him, trying to crack the code that is his words. "Watszch… wash? No, doesn't seem right… wazz? No… maybe watch… you want to watch something?" Nagisa nods and she smiled a bit in bemusement, "But there aren't any children plays here and the sky is outside."

Karma snorted and leaned onto the wall, hands behind his head. "He probably is talking about this game black head was talking about. Something called baseball."

"Black head?" Aguri was confused.

"Black head… Oh, you mean Sugino?" Kaede chuckled, "Someone is being jealous."

Aguri looked at her in astonishment and awe. "We've known each other for the same length of time and I still can't understand them like you," She chuckled, "You have my respect, Kaede."

"Aguri-nee…" Kaede flushed and Karma cackled. Aguri giggled, turning to Nagisa when she felt a tug on her sleeve, smiling warmly.

"So you want to watch some baseball because of Sugino?" Nagisa nodded, "Alright… but there is no television here," She pondered as she was looking around the living room.

"A telewhat?" Karma and Kaede echoed together.

Aguri sweatdropped. "Oh, right… I always forget you guys have no concept of modern technology. How about I show you instead of explaining?" She took her bag Kaede kindly fetched for her and took out a thin black rectangular metal and placed it on the table.

"Why is there so much metal around here?" Karma raised a brow, examining the object, "It doesn't seem like cobalt or iron. Silver or aluminum? But it doesn't…"

"They are so many different metals?!" Kaede asked in shock, "All I know is the iron."

"Well, a god should know what the earth is made of, no?"

"Then why don't you know history or math?" Kaede grinned.

"Because it's not my world, idiot," Karma rolled his eyes. "And math is a human way of looking at the world, not the gods. Besides, I'm learning it faster than you."

"I'm very glad for you, smart boy," She grumbled.

Nagisa's hiss made everyone focus on him. He huffed and pointed aggressively at the black object.

Aguri chuckled. "Sorry, Nagisa." She placed her fingers in a crack in the object and pulled at the edges.

"What are yo—" Kaede's question died on her lips when she saw the peaking squares from the lower black surface and the thin indent on the upper part.

"What is that?" The three stared at the strange thing.

Aguri grinned. "This here is a laptop. It's where you can watch things from and get work done on."

"Oh…" Karma and Kaede seemed skeptical so Aguri simply pressed something and suddenly the thin indent brightened to white then to blue. The trio jolted and took a step back, suspicious of the blue bright light.

"Oh, relax, it's just the screen," Aguri was laughing and started pressing buttons and swiping a pad until a person jumped onto the 'screen'.

"Eek!" Kaede squeaked, "How did you get a person into it!? You need to get him out of there!"

"Kaede, relax, there is no one in there," Aguri sighed, "A laptop can show pictures which are somewhat an exact copy of the moment you captured… and videos which are a recording of a moment."

"I… I see…" Kaede blushed, "So how is that connected to 'baseball'?"

"Well, I'll show you games of baseball and explain a bit about it, alright? Just grab a chair and I'll start."

The trio grabbed their chairs and sat in front of the laptop and Aguri started a 'video' of a tutorial and started explaining. "What you need first is those positions…"

* * *

"So boring~" Karma said at the end and stood up, dusting his pants, "It's basically people smacking balls and barely move until then. I'm out."

"To be honest, I agree with him…" Kaede sounded shocked at the statement despite being the one to initiate it. "I don't really get it… but enjoy, Nagisa," She waved to the blunet and was about to go to their room when a hand clamped over hers and Karma's. The two turned to see Aguri smiling brightly, but with a hint of 'you can't run away'. The two shuddered and wondered what was going on.

"Since Nagisa is so kindly watching the games for Sugino, I was thinking of maybe preparing dinner with you two instead. What do you think?"

"S-sure…" They nodded robotically and suddenly were pulled to the kitchen, not knowing whether to scream or submit to their fates.

They decided the latter.

It can't be so bad, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts


	17. Pain, Pain, And More Pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh... hi? So i guess people are a bit confused since i WASN'T supposed to update because of... well, dad. but there were so many people over and i just hid in my room and after the first two days started to write a little bit and finished chapter 15 so i just said 'screw this' and decided to update normally.
> 
> anyways, i'm really close to the end of the rewrite i started two months ago after 'The Big Erasure' and i really am so happy finally to soon be able to stop worrying about the original writing. i don't know if the original is better or the rewrite, but i do feel that the rewrite is more completed and fleshed out so i really want to thank griewer for not giving up on me and for you guys for spurring me on. you guys are the best!
> 
> i love you all so much and hope that we continue this journey for a long time ^^
> 
> p.s. a normal length chapter is upon us since i couldn't stop it anywhere before.
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^

"So you cut the vegetables and I'll do the rice," Aguri instructed them in the small kitchen. The two nodded silently and while Kaede crouched to get out the vegetables from the fridge Karma took out the cutting boards and knives, setting them on the counter. Kaede handed the carrots to Karma for a peeling while she washed the cucumbers and tomatoes and set to cutting them into semi-thin stripes like Aguri instructed them earlier.

"You're not used to working in the kitchen, huh?" Aguri commented after the third curse coming out of Karma's mouth as his peeler slipped and cut another portion of his fingernail. Kaede laughed and jolted when tomato juice sprayed over her apron from a carrot piece falling into the mess of her sliced tomatoes.

She shrieked and Karma laughed loudly, receiving a handful of tomato juice into his face.

"You two!" Aguri interrupted, "I need dinner, not to wash you two!"

"She started it!" Karma grumbled as he went back to his slicing.

"Oh, Karma is just grumpy because Sugino is stealing his little brother~" Kaede chirped and ducked under a peeler.

"Would you stop it already!?" Karma snapped, "You keep saying those things again and again and again and to be frank with you, I am sick and tired of hearing those words!" He exploded. He yanked off his apron and stomped out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind him.

Kaede and Aguri stood there in silence for a long time before Kaede turned to the woman, tears in her eyes. "I went too far, didn't I?"

Aguri smiled sadly and petted her head. "Yes. But it's not too late to apologize and try to make amends. You took your teasing too far, but now you've learned your lesson and will not do it again."

Kaede nodded and was about to go to the door when Aguri shook her head. "Give him a moment to calm down and at dinner you can apologize, alright? Help me finish for now."

"Okay…" Kaede said solemnly, following Aguri back to the cutting board and silently continued cutting.

* * *

"If only I had my powers, I would have turned her into a troll or something worse…" Karma griped as he walked past the dining table, stopping when he saw the blunet still sitting in front of the computer. He watched the other boy, noticing that the smaller form was so still it seemed almost like he was a statue, eyes wide and reflecting the light from the 'screen'.

He was about to turn back to his annoyance when Nagisa suddenly jolted and made a cupping motion. Karma looked at him with a raised brow, wondering if the limbless had finally gone mad. But alas, limbless was simply trying to copy a motion from one of the players, looking at his hand and tilting his head as if contemplating something.

Karma sighed and grabbed the chair he had used previously and sat on it so that the backrest was pressing against his chest. He rested his chin on the wooden frame and watched the game along with the enthralled blunet.

"Hey," He asked after two 'runs', "Is it really worth it to go so far for one measly human?"

Nagisa blinked and turned to him, tilting his head in confusion. He huffed and looked back at the laptop, "That was a stupid question. It's not like you can answer after all—"

"D…n't.. know…" Golden eyes widened and Karma stared at Nagisa as if seeing him for the first time. Nagisa stubbornly kept his gaze on the screen, but he pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.

"Why don't you know?" The redhead inquired. Nagisa kept silent and so Karma respected the unsaid request and returned his attention to the screen, the running players and the cheering of the audience filling the silence between them. Nagisa was still curled and Karma's cheek was now pressed onto the backrest, arms hanging limply from the seat. Neither seemed to be comfortable but…

It was peaceful.

* * *

"I'm sorry." Kaede gained Karma's during dinner with her exclaim. He stared at her, still a bit pissed over her annoying actions.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm really sorry for going too far with my teasing," Kaede elaborated. Karma stared at her for a long while before sighing, knowing that she won't really stop.

"I don't care anymore."

"Alright," She nodded, not convinced but understanding the gesture, "Thank you."

And that was it.

* * *

**_Blue and brown._ **

**_"This is what you call 'knitting'."_ **

**_Shimmering black and dull black._ **

**_"I want to play with you."_ **

**_Sea of black and fire._ **

**_"Kill him!"_ **

**_Black clutching blue._ **

**_"Don't kill me!"_ **

**_Sea of black being drenched by a sea of red._ **

**_"The gods' are punishing us!"_ **

**_"Save us!"_ **

**_"They're killing the children and women!"_ **

**_Blue drenched with sea of red._ **

**_"Kill me, little one."_ **

**_Yellow orbs dulling to gold._ **

Blue eyes snapped open and he took a sudden breath as if he had held his breath. He coughed and hugged himself, curling into a ball. A ringing grew in his ears and his hands flew to them, trying to cover them.

**_Strange blue._ **

**_"So tell me… when did you die?"_ **

**_Strange blue._ **

**_"I love them dearly."_ **

**_Sea of black._ **

**_"He's possessed."_ **

**_Sad blue._ **

**_"I can't hold back anymore—_ **

"Would you shut it?" Nagisa's body jolted and tensed as he registered the presence of Karma next to him on the bed. The ringing rose and he hissed softly in pain.

"Oi, what in Odin's name are…?" Karma was really confused by what he was seeing – the limbless curled into a ball and covering his ears, face scrunched as if in pain. Did the light from the screen hurt him somehow? Thankfully, Kaede was in Aguri's room this time since the woman felt that Kaede needed some cheering up so she won't make his annoyance worse. He snorted and turned to his current situation. Nagisa was hissing and he could see the eyes screwed shut as sweat glistened in the faint moonlight. The blunet was in physical pain.

That's no good.

He sighed and turned onto his stomach, reaching to the base of the bed, where he liked to keep a bottle of water in case he got thirsty during the night and couldn't get up.

"Come on, you need to drink something before you blow up your head or something more bothersome." He sat up and yanked at the other's hands.

Bright blue eyes tore open and bore into his eyes, the pupils slit and mouth stretched to a long snarl, a deep hiss coming from his throat. Golden eyes narrowed at the blunet in alarm.

This is not good. Limbless is losing control over his anger again and this time he's feeling pain and distress, making the danger sense sink deeper. He shook the bottle in front of the eyes.

"Drink."

He got a pained hiss. He shook the bottle again. Nagisa seemed to get the hint since the glow of his eyes dimmed a bit and he slowly reached for the bottle—

Water spilled from the opening on top. Karma's eyes widened as he saw the trembling hand crushing the plastic as Nagisa gasped and hissed again, eyes glowing again.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Calm down this instant, idiot!" He snatched the bottle and poured it over the blue head, "Clear your head already!"

Nagisa was trembling badly and he was yanking at his hair, eyes blown wide with pain. Karma growled and grabbed the hands, winching at the steel grip but not releasing.

It took a long while, but slowly the pain seemed to fade and a soft whine reached the fatigued redhead.

It was the first sign of crying he had ever heard from the blunet. Was the pain so great? Perhaps they should get a medic to look at him. But one look at the shaking blunet and Karma understood.

He looked the same when he had learned what had happened to _him_. It wasn't just physical, it was emotional.

It's something from the past.

_'Me… kno…know!'_

So he does know… his gaze softened and he enclosed his hands over the smaller sweaty palms, noticing how cold they were.

"It's okay to grieve…" He said after a long consideration, "But it won't make the past change, so it's quite useless…"

Bright blue eyes dimmed and the pupils slowly diluted. A soft hiss escaped Nagisa's lips and suddenly Karma found his arms filled with the blunet as the other was hugging him tightly.

A bit taken aback, Karma was at loss of what to do. He blinked, wondering how in Odin's name he ended up in this predicament. At the end, he simply rolled his eyes and he patted the blue hair.

"At least you're not crying like the baby you are…" He grumbled halfheartedly, "But it's so freaky to see you so emotional."

Nagisa hissed softly, sleepiness creeping onto his tone. Karma smirked and yanked the boy away from him.

"Alright, time to sleep." He dumped the other back onto the bed and he lied down.

It was too quiet for a while so Karma just had to turn around to see what was wrong, only for Nagisa to reach for him and curl against his stomach.

It was too hot under the blanket already and Nagisa's wet hair being so close didn't help so at first he tried to push away the blunet, but when he heard the shuddering soft breaths, signaling that the other already fell asleep, he sighed and gave up.

How in Odin's name did he end up in this predicament? Was the last thought as his eyes closed and he fell asleep as well, two rhythms of beating hearts echoing in his ears.

* * *

"How adorable!" Kaede's squeal was the reason for his sleep being disrupted this time. He cursed and opened his eyes, turning to glare at her before feeling something preventing him from moving and even breathing. Growling, he grabbed the offending form and pulled it away.

"Karma!" Kaede laughed and he blinked, looking at his hand. He then registered the white shirt and the sleeping blunet attached to it. He stared in confusion for a long time before remembering last night's events and dropped the other, punching the bed in annoyance.

Which faded away immediately when Nagisa yawned and rubbed his eyes which were suspiciously damp.

Was the snake crying? No, he would have noticed and his shirt isn't wet at all. Probably just his imagination.

"Karma?" Kaede snapped her fingers in front of his eyes, "Are you alright?"

"Yes," He said halfheartedly and pulled the blanket off of him and stood up, wavering a bit as dizziness hit him. It was too hot and smothering in the room, he needed cool air. He threw on a pair of long pants and rushed out of the room while ignoring Kaede following him with her worried inquiries.

"Where are you going?" She asked him when they reached the door of the apartment. Karma sighed and ran his hand in his hair.

"I just need some fresh air. Give me space, alright already?" Kaede was taken a bit aback, but at the end nodded and opened the door for him.

"I'll teach Nagisa a bit then. Aguri should be up soon."

"Why are you up so early anyways?" Karma asked her, already one step out of the house. She sighed.

"Had a bad dream and wanted to sleep next to you guys." He hummed and in a split-second decision, patted her head and exited the house, leaving a bewildered greenette behind.

* * *

"Where is Karma?" Aguri asks an hour later as she walks into the living room, seeing Kaede writing on a paper and making Nagisa say them.

"Oh, he went on a morning stroll," Kaede said cheerily, "He needed fresh air."

The woman stopped on her tracks, for a moment worrying what would happen if he gets pulled over by the police but then noticed something else and decided that Karma can take care of himself and isn't naive enough to get into trouble.

"You seem pretty chipper for being awake so early," Aguri eyed her strangely, stopping mid-yawn as she considered something, "Did you have a bad dream or something?"

Kaede chuckled sheepishly. "Kind of. But Karma cheered me up," She reassured the woman with a bright smile, "I think he's finally warming up to the idea of us being a family."

Aguri returned the gesture with a relieved undertone. "That really good to hear. I'm glad to hear that."

"Kaaeede.." The two turned right away in surprise to the blunet, who was holding a page and a pencil. The page featured a very shaky and barely legible 'A' on it, but…

"I can't believe it!" Kaede glomped the blunet, "I'm so happy! Your first letter and first proper word!"

Nagisa blinked and lowered the hands, limp since he didn't know how to react. Aguri chuckled and patted the blue hair. "Good job, little one. You did well."

Blue eyes widened and flashed. Then the blunet looked at her and gave a proper smile, eyes crinkling slightly.

The sight had given him a sudden softness that Aguri was taken aback from. He really acted like a normal human boy for a moment and her heart swelled.

"Good job, Nagisa…" She muttered, her throat strained for some reason.

After a moment, Kaede released the blunet and beamed at the woman. "You want to take Nagisa to cook breakfast? Karma should be back soon and I don't want him to wait for the food."

"Alright," Aguri agreed, "Come, Nagisa. Let's make something special for you and Karma." Nagisa nodded and followed her to the kitchen, the door closing behind and leaving Kaede alone in the living room.

Humming happily to herself, feeling that everything is slowly clicking to place, Kaede gathered the papers and pens and placed them in a box and putting it next to the couch. Then she was about to go back to their rooms to get dressed when the door opened and a strange familiar metallic smell entered her nose. But she ignored it, probably this sweat smell.

"Oh, Karma! You're back," Kaede smiled and turned around, "Nagisa was saying my name…" Her eyes slowly widened and her hands shook, " ** _Karma!_** " She exclaimed in horror.

The redhead was leaning on the frame of the door, blood trickling down his nose and mouth and a big bruise was blossoming on his jaw. His clothes were dirty and disheveled, a few rips appearing on his pants.

"What happened?" She demanded, rushing to him and helping him straighten up. The redhead yelped in pain and shee retracted her hands immediately as if she was burnt but stayed close to him in case of him falling.

"I have no idea, but it sure wasn't the nicest first walk," He hissed in pain and pushed her slightly away, "I'm fine. I should be used to those puny injuries, but this human body is so weak it's making me gag."

"Don't strain yourself then. You need to get to the couch immediately," The greenette said frantically, "Please don't push yourself. You're injured."

"Greenie," Gold eyes turned to her, freezing her in place. When she stopped talking, he nodded and stumbled into the house, kicking off his shoes and staggering to the couch. Then he fell on it and groaned in pain, "Odin, I hate this body."

"Who attacked you?" Kaede snapped from her stupor and was now shaking badly, hazel eyes fading in and out as if she was fighting not to lose herself in a panic attack, "Who did that to you?"

"Some bastards who thought I was an easy target," He sighed and leaned back, "Can you get me some water?"

"I should dress your wounds first," Kaede took deep breaths, hands clasped to her chest as the gears turned in her brain, "There should be a first aid kit in the bathroom. Aguri-nee showed me that one time and told me what it has…" She seemed frazzled and her eyes were wide.

"Calm down, greenie. It can't be the first time you saw blood," The redhead eyed her in confusion. She shook her head, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

"It's not. But I do have bad memories associated with it," Kaede admitted shakily, Karma's voice grounding her, "I didn't think I was affected this badly though."

"Blood rarely is associated with good things," Karma sighed, "You were going to…"

"Oh, right!" Kaede turned on her heel and hurried to the bathroom.

Two minutes later, she emerged from the door with the silver colored box, already taking out several towels, cotton and a disinfection. She crouched before Karma and helped him out of the shirt, biting her lip at the sight of a big blooming bruise on his stomach.

"You got into a quarrel…" She breathed out and took the bottle of water and a towel.

Karma kept a straight face as she cleaned the bruises but couldn't help the pained hiss coming out as she dabbed the cuts and bruises with the alcohol. This human body was seriously so fragile he hated this. He used to be able to take down gods without blinking even as chunks of himself were blown away. He once had to battle Níðhöggr when it rebelled and started consuming Thor's goats instead of the dark souls plaguing the earth.

He was able to do a lot… and now he can barely fight humans. How degrading…

"I guess?" He wasn't really sure, to be honest.

"Kaede, is Karma home? We finished breakfast," Aguri's voice echoed into the living room. "We made something spe…cial…" Black eyes widened as they landed on Kaede cleaning Karma's bruised jaw. Her mouth hung open and her fingers loosened in shock, the tray with the food cluttering to the floor with its contents splashing everywhere. But the woman didn't pay attention to that since she was already by the redhead. Karma looked down, probably wondering if she's going to yell at him again like the previous day, jolting when all she did was crouch before him and cup his face.

"Who did that to you?" She shook with worry and anger, "What happened?"

Karma looked at her for a long moment in confusion before shrugging, winching at the strain. "I was just walking, minding my own business when those idiots just arrived out of nowhere, spouting nonsense about 'punks' or 'puns', didn't really get it. I was handling them very well despite not being used to fight with my fists or in a human body overall but then this guy appeared behind me and hit me with a pipe—ouch!"

Kaede frowned as she noticed the blood at the nape and touched the source, jolting when Karma growled at her. "I'm sorry..."

"How many were there?" Aguri asked.

"Around six?"

"And how did you get away? Did you manage to alert someone?" Aguri took bandages and disinfect cream, smearing them over the bruises. Karma winched and cursed at the sudden pains.

"I do have some of my pride, you know," He grumbled, "No, I took them out properly."

"Properly…?" Kaede asked.

"I made sure they won't stand up again."

Aguri's hands froze even while Kaede simply nodded in understatement. "Won't stand…?"

"He broke their limbs, Aguri-nee," Kaede elaborated, "It's the best way to deal with evil souls like them. That way they won't be able to run or crawl after you."

The woman stared at them incredulously. "No mercy at all…"

"Mercy?" Karma snapped, "Why should a god give mercy to assaulters?"

Aguri stared at him sadly, finishing wrapping the bandages. "Aren't gods known for their mercy and forgiveness?"

"Okay, it's about time I make something clear to you," Karma interrupted her question and silence fell on the girls, "We gods were not born _from_ humans and especially were not born to _please_ them."

"What?" He wasn't finished.

"Mercy is something that you humans invented. We gods have no conception of something so _stupid_."

"What do you mean by 'stupid'? What do gods have instead?"

"Survival," He answered honestly, eyes hardened and suddenly _so old_ , "Everything about us is survival. There is no time for soft-hearted souls. If you want to win a battle, you don't give a crap about the enemy. It's your win if you survive. Your loss if you die. Simple as that, Aguri," He straightened in his place, hissing at the pain, "I told you that before. We are essentially different in our opinions and how we observe the world – non-humans and humans never liked each other because of your hypocrisy. Mercy is a plain lie and because humans has it, they destroy more than create, all in the name of mercy. Non-humans never had this mercy and so managed to achieve something akin to peace. The elven and dwarves tribes treat anyone who steps out of line the best way – exile to the deepest and unstable mines or tied to a tree and have nature take care of them."

Aguri was wide eyed, hands freezing over the covered arm. Karma sighed and placed his bandaged hand on her shoulder. "Aguri, look at me," The woman's glassy black met his hardened gold eyes, "I know it's hard. A human is not used to look at the world in a view different than what it was taught since birth. But you had taken us three into your house and are planning to make us your family, so you must understand that – I used to be a god, Greenie used to be a fairy and Limbless used to be a snake. Believe us or not but we are the furthest from humans as possible so our view of the world is much different than them. If you still want to be our family, you need to understand that and accept that sometimes, our solutions to certain occurrences will be vastly opposite."

Aguri took a deep breath, taking a moment to absorb everything he had said, but nodded at the end. "I… I understand."

"Do you?" Gold flashed and black widened for a moment before hardening in determination and the woman repeated her actions.

"I do. Perhaps I don't hold the same world views as you, but that doesn't mean that you are wrong, yet you are not correct; it's just different. I will try my best to accept them and understand them since I still want you as a family and I'm not a woman who gives up easily. It's also a lesson for me…" She smiled and placed her hand on his, "You seem so wise now it's hard to believe you're a teenager."

"Because I'm not," Karma smirked amusingly, all tension leaving him, "I'm older than your ancestors so respect your elders."

Aguri laughed. "That doesn't sound very god-like."

"Well, an old man said that to me while passing me with two wheeled bent metal death trap," Karma said cheekily. Aguri laughed louder and shook her head fondly.

"You are hopeless. It was simply a bike you're talking about—"

"I hate to break this moment… but we have a problem," Karma and Aguri looked up to see Kaede smile sadly at them, fidgeting a bit uncomfortably.

"What problem, Kaede?" Aguri stood up, dusting her pants and gathering the medical supplies. The greenette sighed and gestured to Karma.

"How are we going to explain this to the class?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?
> 
> p.s. i wrote an original piece called 'stringless' and i would really appreciate it if you will go and read and maybe leave a comment? *hint hint*


	18. Bonus Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyways, i'm really close to the end of the rewrite i started two months ago after 'The Big Erasure' and i really am so happy finally to soon be able to stop worrying about the original writing. i don't know if the original is better or the rewrite, but i do feel that the rewrite is more completed and fleshed out so i really want to thank griewer for not giving up on me and for you guys for spurring me on. you guys are the best!
> 
> i love you all so much and hope that we continue this journey for a long time ^^
> 
> p.s. A BONUS CHAPTER SINCE I NEED TO BUY MYSELF MORE TIME TO WRITE SINCE I AM SO BEHIND SCHEDULE! also, my computer got fried... so i couldn't write anything and i forget to prepare already the new chapter so i... decided to write a bonus chapter. sorry about that. it's not going to be a good chapter since i didn't have enough time to write this.
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^

"So I figure none of you know anything about traffic rules." Aguri sighed at the duo's nods. It has been only four days since she had met with the three strange teenagers that somehow managed to worm their way into her heart and only three days since they had started coming to school with her... well, only two of the three; Nagisa was still sleeping the day away in her house.

Anyways, back to the matter in hand - lack of knowledge from the duo's side. Fortunately, nothing too disastrous happened on the way to school or in school itself. It was nice seeing the class warming up to the two odd children and how some of her students seemed to grow happier. Maybe this year she will be able to get through to the students earlier than usual. If it'll happen, she'll be able to actually teach them more of what she wants rather than what the principal wants. She smiled at the memory of the only other year she was able to let loose like that - her first year of teaching.

"So what about those 'traffic rules'?" Karma's voice snapped her out of her musings and she shook her head briefly before nodding at him, acknowledging his question.

"It's something that I should have told you about when you first rode this car, but you seemed too scared to actually listen to me." The duo remained silent, but the message was clear - 'There was a damn good reason why they were scared'. Aguri pouted but didn't comment on that, they're just not used to cars, that's all. They didn't say anything about her driving abilities.

She cleared her throat. "Well, first you should know that I'm not the only one on the road."

"Really? Could have had me fooled," Sarcasm dripped from each syllable, "I was so sure that all those other death traps were only my imagination."

"Karma, please," The greenette grumbled, "I prefer knowing now rather than after getting hurt, even if it does sound obvious maybe Aguri-nee doesn't know that it does for us. We are strangers to the human world after all."

"Alright, alright," Karma rolled his eyes, gesturing to Aguri with his hand, "Continue."

Aguri's brows furrowed. She felt like she had been mocked right now. "Do try not to insult me next time, Karma, I don't like it."

"Sorry." She could hear the smirk but didn't comment, choosing to continue her lecture.

"Well, because there are many cars on the road except for mine, there are rules so everyone could get to their destinations safely.

First, is to drive on your side of the road. My side of the road is right and that's where all the cars who drive the same direction are on."

"So what does that car do?" Karma pointed at a large blue car who was just about to do a 'U' turn into their side. Aguri immediately stopped the car and shook her head when some other vehicles started to honk.

A squeak had her look back to see Kaede clutch to a scowling Karma's shirt with big eyes and her mouth slightly agape. Agri was about to ask her what was wrong when she realized that to those who are not used to cars, honking can sound as an alarming sound. She immediately adorned a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Kaede, it's simply a car's function when he wants to alert people."

"Well, it alerts me alright," Kaede grumbled, cringing when another honk went off, "It sounds so awful. Why do humans enjoy destroying a perfectly natural silence? It's so baffling why humans would ruin anything that's from nature. I miss the forest..."

"Greenie, would you shut it? You're making it worse by whining," Karma huffed, "And believe me, I miss my house. But we're stuck here, so get used to the noise."

Kaede glared at him for a long moment before sighing and nodding. "You're right. I'm sorry, Aguri-nee, I went a bit overboard."

Aguri smiled warmly at that and chuckled, looking back to the front when the car finally freed the road and she started driving again. "Don't worry about that, Kaede. All those experiences are important for you for the future. Making mistakes and correcting them create understanding and so when the same or similar situation happen again, you'll know what to expect or how to react."

"A lesson in the car?" Karma raised a brow.

Aguri grinned. "Women are known for their ability to multitask."

Kaede grinned as well and Karma seemed to grow wary. "You know what, I'm never going to question females' insanity again in my life."

"We're perfectly sane~" The two said in unison.

Golden eyes narrowed. "Just go back to explaining the road rules."

"No problem," The amusement was still apparent in the woman's voice, but she only explained more things about crossroads, things called traffic lights and cars' possible behavior. Karma and Kaede listened intently, not liking the insanity that humans possessed.

Who in their right mind would risk driving over tens of people just to get ten minutes earlier?

Oh, right. Humans...

They both sighed.

They were doomed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?  
> sorry about the crappy chapter. my city has a heat wave and i was sick yesterday and my computer died so i'm a bit sulky...


	19. Fears of the Unknown and the Known

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A NEW PART FOR THE 'I AM A SNAKE' SERIES!
> 
> anyways, i'm really, rea~~~~lly close to the end of the rewrite i started two months ago after 'The Big Erasure' and i really am so happy finally to soon be able to stop worrying about the original writing. i don't know if the original is better or the rewrite, but i do feel that the rewrite is more completed and fleshed out so i really want to thank griewer for not giving up on me and for you guys for spurring me on. you guys are the best!
> 
> i love you all so much and hope that we continue this journey for a long time ^^
> 
> p.s. also, no motivation to write... *sob*
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^

"Karma, you really should stay in bed for the day," Aguri said in the car. Despite better judgement, Karma was adamant at coming to class after Kaede's question and nothing that the girls said had persuaded him.

"I don't want to end up like limbless, so sorry but no." Was his winning excuse.

"That does remind me," Kaede piped in, "I'm surprised that Nagisa didn't comment on anything that happened."

Everyone turned to look at the blunet, who was buckled to the middle seat, mouthing something while napping on Kaede's shoulder. The girls laughed while Karma grumbled, muttering something about how glad he is for sitting at the front seat for once.

"Oh, don't lie. I saw how protective you are over Nagisa," Kaede chuckled, then went silent and looked away in shame when the redhead turned around to glare at her. Her teeth gritted and her fists clenched. She had done it again. Despite promising to stop, she had done it again, she thought fleetly but Aguri's voice fortunately distracted her before she could dive deeper into her self-anger and shame.

"Well, it could be that Nagisa didn't see what happened since he was in the kitchen the entire time."

"I don't buy it." Kaede let out a relieved sigh at the ignored slip and smiled widely, her mood slightly lifted.

"Well, we can always ask him when he wakes up."

Aguri sighed. "We should have called the police or something to report on what happened."

"Well, I doubt they'll get to me any time soon," Karma rolled his eyes and shrugged, "Besides, didn't you say that the police would take us away because we're not registered yet?"

"Yes, I did…" Aguri grumbled, her fingers tightening around the wheel, "I can't believe they dared to harm you."

"Hey, I showed them it wasn't a good idea."

"Karma, I'm allowed to be angry at them," The woman huffed, her shoulders hunched. "I was so scared for a moment there that I had lost you when I saw you covered in bruises and blood. I was… I was so scared…" Aguri's hands shook and tightened around the wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. Karma stared at her with wide eyes and slightly gaped.

"Aguri-nee, it's okay. Karma is alright, everything is alright," Kaede said firmly, wrapping the chair since that's how far she could reach from her position, "Take a deep breath. Karma protected himself."

"But what if there were more people? What if they were stronger? What if, oh god forbid, they had guns and knives?"

"What are guns?" Aguri froze and immediately parked the car on the side of the road, ignoring some shrill noises that came from different cars which caused the two to stiffen in alarm. The woman turned to Karma then to Kaede, hands coming to cover her mouth in horror.

"What is going on, Aguri?" Karma asked warily, not liking the direction of which the conversation was progressing to.

"You… you don't know… of course you don't know, which makes it worse. You could actually get killed without us knowing for days…" Aguri muttered, leaning on her hands, her bangs covering her eyes.

"Aguri, come on, talk to us!" Karma snapped, taking off his seatbelt so he could face the bent over woman. "Oi!"

"Aguri-nee, please!" Nagisa was slowly stirring awake by the commotion and straightened up, looking between them and Aguri in alarm.

"A..gri…?" He asked in confusion, unbuckling himself and reached to the woman's face. Karma took note and cupped her cheeks, raising her head so they could see the tear stained cheeks. The trio froze.

"Aguri-nee, what happened?" Kaede asked frantically, trying to reach forward but with the narrow space between the front seats they were pressed together awkwardly.

"You three…" Aguri said quietly, sounding so uncharacteristically sad and broken it was unnerving, "You can be hurt and I won't be able to do anything about it."

"Then how about telling us about those guns and we'll learn to be safe from them?" Karma asked firmly. "I'm sure that even human fledglings don't know at first what they are. Aguri," He said sternly, "We are perhaps ignorant of many human concepts, but we are _not_ _fledglings_. We can take care of ourselves, we just need knowledge. So get a grip and tell us."

"Aguri-nee, Karma is right. Please return to us and let us help you," Kaede piped in. Nagisa nodded and patted the black hair.

It took a moment but then a small nod came from the woman. "O-okay…" Aguri's black eyes slowly regained their shine and she rose up, twisting in her chair so she could bring their heads to an awkward hug, pressing her head over theirs. It was straining and the position sent painful pinpricks through their bodies, but none of them moved, "You're so precious… I love you so much… I don't want to lose you three…"

"So help us protect ourselves…" Kaede and Karma echoed, then looked at each other and the latter rolled his eyes while the former giggled. Aguri chuckled weakly from that and released them, taking several deep breaths and restarting the car, slowly rolling away back to the road. Her fingers still shook but her face turned determined.

After a few moments, a soft voice echoed in the car. "Guns are like bow and arrow, only with a much more destructive power than arrows since they operate on explosive power. They can also hit a target from several hundred meters."

"How in heaven's name did humans manage to create something so dangerous?" Kaede blanched. Karma frowned, winching when he settled in his seat from the pull of his bruises.

"Humans are frail enough, why quicken it?"

Aguri sighed. "It's for wars… Humans not agreeing with one another or trying to gain more territory," Her lips thinned, "It's a very dark aspect of humanity."

"Of any species mutated from animals to be exact," Karma said, closing his eyes, "It's part of the animalistic instincts. To be the correct one. To be the alpha of the pack. To stand victorious. So I understand it completely."

"So gods fight over superiority as well?" Kaede asked in curiosity, trying to veer the conversation away from Aguri, who was slowly calming down. Karma rolled his eyes.

"We're not that pathetic. We fight because we're bored," He smirked haughtily when Kaede huffed in indignation, "What? I answered your question."

"You're unbelievable!"

He smirked bigger. "I know."

Aguri chuckled. Her heart felt a bit lighter. "Thank you, that made me feel a bit better."

"Just answering questions," Karma shrugged cheekily.

None of them noticed Nagisa in the background, a clouded expression appearing on his face, hidden by his long bangs.

**_"…Save us!"_ **

**_"Kill them!"_ **

His eyes flashed.

* * *

Sugino was smiling brightly at Nagisa when he entered the classroom, eyes widening when he saw Nagisa look back and smile widely. The boy gaped at the blunet for a moment before shaking his head and waving in a greeting.

"Good morning, Nagisa, what got you so happy?"

"Goo..d.. mo…ing, gino!" Nagisa replied, smile dimming but for some reason it felt as if a certain lightness had settled over him and Sugino wasn't sure how to handle that. Over the two days he had known Nagisa, he had got the feeling of apathy from the other. He got interested and got even excited, but he never felt this… animated.

Did something happen?

"So, did something good happen?" Sugino tried again when he noticed that Nagisa didn't answer his question, sitting down in his seat and leaning forward in an invitation to talk. Nagisa turned on his chair and nodded.

"Ka…ma… Bass…ball wa…tch me!" Nagisa said, fumbling over unfamiliar words but somehow Sugino understood and felt touched on how hard Nagisa was trying to communicate with him despite not knowing how to speak properly.

"So Karma watched baseball with you?" He asked in excitement and Nagisa nodded, "So I got you interested in baseball?" He teased but Nagisa only nodded, not getting the idea of teasing. Sugino huffed a chuckle, he should have known that the blunet wouldn't change completely in one day.

But his heart swelled over the thought that despite not knowing each other for long, that Nagisa wanted to know his hobbies and even went through all the trouble of watching some games. Some of the ugly feelings of resentment towards his situation had melted away.

His smile brightened.

"Good morning, Nagisa!" The blunet tensed and looked back to see Nakamura grin brightly at him. When light blue eyes simply regarded her warily, she chuckled and shrugged. "Don't worry, I come in peace."

"I hope so," Sugino warned her, feeling protective over the smaller boy, "Nagisa doesn't like remarks over his appearance."

"Sorry about that," But Nakamura was winking so Sugino simply frowned at that, not buying the act. But then he noticed that Nagisa's eyes widened for a moment before flickering to him and lightening up. He pondered over the strange reaction before remembering explaining forgiveness to Nagisa and nearly facepalmed. Nagisa doesn't understand sarcasm and thinks that Nakamura is being sincere. Not good.

"Nakamura…" He started. The blonde grinned cheekily and wrapped an arm around the blunet. This is really not good.

"We'll be great friends!" She exclaimed and took out her phone, pointing to themselves, "Now say cheese!"

Nagisa blinked and flinched at the sharp click and drew back from the girl, narrowing his eyes and baring his teeth. Sugino sighed and snatched the phone from the girl, ignoring her pleads, and showed the picture to the blunet.

"Don't worry, this is simply a picture." Nagisa's eyes widened and he poked at the screen, pointing at himself and looked at Sugino in shock. "Oh, don't worry, it's simply a copy of the moment. No one is stuck there," Sugino assured the boy.

Nakamura laughed. "This is exactly the reaction I got from Karma when I showed him my phone for the first time. It's like they grew up in a traditional house or even a shrine."

Nagisa nodded at that. The two gaped at him. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yess…" The blonde blinked and cupped her forehead with one hand and rested the other on her hip.

"Wow… that's so bizarre. No wonder you don't know so many things… but I didn't know Yukimura-sensei's uncle was a priest…"

"You don't know many things about them, Nakamura," Sugino shrugged, a different feeling sinking in - suspicion. "They are pretty tight-lipped over their home life. We only know that they came to live with sensei after their father got sick and that they're adopted."

"That's not a lot…" Nakamura grumbled, holding Nagisa again and resting her head on his hair, "Now I'm really curious. Say, Nagisa, can you tell us some stuff from your life before coming here?"

"Isn't that a little blunt?" Sugino sweatdropped, "And also you're too heavy."

She pouted. "No, I'm not."

He sighed. "You're crushing him."

"Oh, woopsie!" The blonde chuckled and drew back, snapping another picture of the blunet's scowl. "Alright, see you~" She stood up and went to her seat on Nagisa's left. Sugino felt pity towards the blunet for having the girl so close by all day.

* * *

"You okay, Kaede?" Kurahashi asked the greenette when she arrived at the class, seeing the girl sprawled over her desk and sighing in a mantra.

"Yeah… just had a very heavy conversation with Aguri-nee this morning…" Kaede admitted, "Karma went on a morning stroll and got attacked."

"Oh no!" Kurahashi exclaimed in horror, "Is he alright?"

Kaede pointed with her thumb to her right, where Karma was sleeping soundly, head rested against the wall, completely oblivious to the world. He had fallen asleep the minute he sat down and Kaede didn't have the heart to wake him up. The only visible bandage gleaming over his jaw. "He wouldn't admit to us how tired he was even after we patched him up. Heaven knows how terrible he looked. I think my heart stopped when I saw him covered in blood and bruises…" The girl sighed and slumped back to the desk. Kurahashi bit her lip and looked at the redhead and back to her friend.

"Did you try calling the police?"

"Aguri-nee said she will. But Karma kept saying that there is no need. That he took care of the problem. He's strong so he's alright, but I still worry…"

"Still… that's terrible," The orange haired girl frowned, "How did Nagisa take to it?"

"He wasn't in the room when Karma walked in, so not much…" Kaede looked over to see Nakamura poking at Nagisa's cheek and Sugino swatting her hands and sighed, "I don't know what to make out of his behavior sometimes… does he even worry?"

"Well, he seemed pretty worried when Karma got all moody two days ago."

"He did?" Kaede asked in shock. Kurahashi nodded and smiled in reassurance.

"He does worry, he just doesn't show it that well. I guess it's something unusual since you looked really surprised over it."

"It is…" Kaede didn't continue and simply quieted down. Noticing the lull in the conversation, Kurahashi smiled, gave a small hug to the greenette and went back to her desk at the last row next to the window, eyes clouded in worry when she noticed Okuda standing before Karma's desk; the girl's eyes widening with shock as they spot the bandage over the jaw and the peeking white from under his shirt. The girl turned to Maehara, who was sitting in his chair and glancing back to the redhead as well, a pitying look in his eyes.

"Wh-what happened t-to him?" She stuttered in concern. The orange head sighed and shrugged.

"Heard he was taking a morning stroll and got attacked by some thugs."

"That's—!" She exclaimed and immediately quietened when the redhead shifted in his chair, "Did someone call the police or helped him?" She whispered.

"No idea. Kaede doesn't know since none of them were with him when it happened. But it appears that he took them on all by himself. Well, he does look like a kid who likes fighting," He tried to reassure the braided girl who just looked more scared.

"B-but he shouldn't g-get himself s-so hurt!"

"I'm sure that Yukimura-sensei and his siblings would make sure it won't happen again," Maehara grinned weakly, "They seemed pretty upset by what happened. Don't worry, he'll be alright."

"O-okay…" Okuda frowned but did bowed slightly to Karma in greeting and rushed to her chair just as Aguri stepped into the room, an unusual frown on her face.

The students of class E agreed on this – today was certainly an unusual day.

And they couldn't decide if it was good or bad.

* * *

"Why didn't you wake me up!?" Karma demanded at the end of the day. Everyone had already left by the time the girls had decided to finally wake the redhead up. Nagisa at the end was the one to wake the redhead by pulling the chair back. Startled by the loss of balance, Karma woke up just before toppling to the floor and turned to growl at the blunet, who nodded in satisfaction (only Karma noticing the glint of faint amusement in his eyes).

Aguri sighed and shook her head.

"You were pretty worn out, Karma. And don't try to convince me otherwise. You slept really deeply and I didn't want to interrupt your body's healing."

"I'm really not used to this body," Karma grumbled but conceded. Kaede patted him sympathetically.

"None of us, Karma. But it's good to learn the limits of your body early on and not when you need it most."

Karma considered it for a moment then nodded, agreeing with her. Aguri narrowed her eyes, wondering why fighting six people wasn't considered 'need it most', but let it slide since Karma was exhausted and they needed to get home.

Nagisa was shuffling behind the trio and Aguri suddenly noticed it while looking at Karma and stopped, waiting for Nagisa to reach her and placed her hand on his head, ruffling it a bit. "What's wrong, Nagisa?"

Blue eyes looked up and Nagisa tilted his head for a moment before shrugging and striding quickly to the duo who stopped as well. Aguri sighed, not liking the fact that she still couldn't communicate properly with Nagisa, especially when it seemed that he needed her as well.

"Aguri-nee, we're leaving you behind!" Kaede called and Aguri shook her thoughts off and smiled teasingly.

"Well, you can't drive my car without me so you can't leave me behind." Kaede pouted and chuckled.

"Well, then come on already. I want to get home already."

"Alright, alright, coming!" The woman chuckled to herself and walked faster to reach the trio, her heart clenching her chest in fear that she could lose any of those three without realizing it.

But, her face hardened as she sat on her seat, she would make certain that they would always be safe. No one is hurting any of them anymore. Even if she would have to sacrifice herself in the process. Unbeknown to her, Nagisa was looking over at her and at Kaede, then locked onto the back of Karma's seat, eyes clouding. Then he shivered and curled on his place in the car by the window. Kaede and karma were nodding off so he wasn't asked for his strange behavior. Aguri was focused on driving so he was safe.

He trembled and buried his face in his knees, the strange voices coming back and gaining volume and even color and shapes that were foreign to him. His ears rang and something slammed into his head and it hurts, it hurts, it hurts—

_" **I'll be your friend.** "_

His eyes snapped open at the flash of blue curtain and yellow orbs and his body relaxed and he fell asleep, a small smile dancing on his mouth.

* * *

_There was a pile of food by the river and a basket woven with protective strings of one horn's shedding filled with the usual._

_She crouched next to it and opened it, face clouding when the strings dimmed and fell apart. She sighed and put it in a silk bag, moving to the food._

_She was so hungry so she ate it with fervor and quickly hid the rest in the bag as well, flipping her wings and flying as fast as possible from there, not wanting to be more than necessary in one place…_

Her eyes opened and she blinked at the setting sun shining into her eyes. She yawned and looked to her side, her face softening at the sight of the sleeping blunet curled behind the seat of Karma, who was sleeping soundly as well. The scene was washed with serene soft red and it relaxed something in her chest. She turned her head forward and smiled blissfully at the sight of Aguri looking at her with a warm smile.

"Hey, there," Aguri started softly, as if afraid to break the tranquility of the moment, "Did you sleep alright?"

Kaede nodded and yawned, sitting up and stretching a bit before wiping her mouth and eyes and yawning again. Aguri chuckled and turned off the car, opening the door and climbing out of it, spurring Kaede to wake fully up and shake Nagisa awake as well. She smiled happily at the groggy face the blunet made, her chest much, much lighter.

She was really happy…

She would do anything to keep this happiness…

* * *

_A hand landed on his shoulder and gained his attention. He looked forward and saw a giant head lying on the marble floor, murky blue eyes looking into his bored gaze and a soft noise echoes in the room. He feels something warm bubble in his chest and he walks towards the head, kneeling before the blue eyes and cup the scaly skin._

_"Good morning, little brother."_

_The head nodded and the eyes closed, the giant scaly snout rubbing against his chest. He snickered and patted between the eyes._

_"I'll take care of you from now on…"_

"Karma, wake up. We're home." He opened his eyes and glanced to his side, through the window which Kaede was knocking on. He yawned and cracked his neck, winching at the ache settling in his limbs and injuries. He sighed and opened the window, refusing any help from the greenette and walked briskly to the house and past Aguri and Nagisa. He shrugged off the shoes and rushed towards the guest room, slamming the door behind him. Not sparing any thought to the others, he tore off his shirt and fell onto the bed, shrugging on the blanket and closing his eyes. He felt drained completely and everything burned. He took a deep breath and tried to empty his mind from everything.

He was so exhausted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?
> 
> VERY IMPORTANT! I HAVE FOUND OUT ABOUT A FANART FOR ONE OF MY OTHER FICS 'THE SNAKE MOUND'! THE FIRST. EVER. FANART! AND IT'S AMAZING AND ADORABLE AND WHAT I WAS EXPECTING! YOU MUST CHECK IT OUT! I'M SO HAPPY I'M CRYING!
> 
> http://pineappland.tumblr.com/post/145972223547/inspired-by-the-fic-the-snake-mound-from


	20. Mistakes and News

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY FOR BEING LATE, WAS AT A WEDDING AND FORGET TO UPDATE BEFORE THAT!
> 
> anyways, i'm really, rea~~~~lly, rea~~~~~~~lly. like ONE SCENE LEFT close to the end of the rewrite i started two months ago after 'The Big Erasure' and i really am so happy finally to soon be able to stop worrying about the original writing. i don't know if the original is better or the rewrite, but i do feel that the rewrite is more completed and fleshed out so i really want to thank griewer for not giving up on me and for you guys for spurring me on. you guys are the best!
> 
> i love you all so much and hope that we continue this journey for a long time ^^
> 
> p.s. also, my computer fried so it's hard to write.. *sob*
> 
> p.s.s. does anyone know what Aguri's actual height? it's shorter than human korosensei by like 10-15 cm according to what i could see and GoD was said to be of average height, so... around 170 cm?
> 
> p.s.s.s. also, of anyone wondering, i have already written the trio's pasts, so i am not copying anything from your theories, so feel free to add your theory, i really want to read them!
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^

" _S_ _o I couldn't find any record of them. I even tried looking into illegal immigration or records overseas but nothing. I thought maybe to try and match face structure to country, but nothing as well. To be honest, I'm starting to wonder if they didn't just fall off from the sky at this point,_ " Yada's voice vibrated in Aguri's ear from the phone she was holding. It was well into the night and the older woman was in her room, looking over papers when she had called Yada.

Said woman sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "So we can't file a complaint…"

" _Sadly, no… I can try and do a DNA test and maybe that would pop something up. If not then we'll be able to register them, hopefully, without any complications._ "

"Thank you for doing this for me…" Aguri inhaled and rested her forehead on the pile of papers, "Karma went to sleep right away and I'm worried he's more hurt than he lets me see."

" _Well, I would advise to bring him to the hospital but he doesn't have any records yet… how about on Friday you bring those three to a DNA test and I'll pull some strings to have him checked up with no registration?_ _It wouldn't be the first time I had to do this so no suspicions would rise._ "

"That would be amazing," Aguri smiled in relief, "You saved me so much trouble. I'll be sure to repay you back."

" _Do we need to go over this conversation again?_ " A hint of amusement filtered through the phone. The black haired woman laughed softly and shook her head.

"Forgive me, I forget. But really, thank you…" Black eyes opened, a lone tear falling, "I was so scared when I saw him on the couch, looking so beaten up. He took on six men and yet, both Kaede and he don't even regard it as 'extreme'. That makes me scared of finding out what their definition of 'extreme' is."

" _What did Nagisa say?_ "

"He was in the kitchen so I don't know. But he is smiling a lot lately…"

"Well, _I could draw several things from this, but it does seem that either abuse or street fighting was part of their previous lives. Karma did seem the type, though he was pretty protective of Kaede and Nagisa._ "

"He's too obvious," Aguri barked a soft laugh, "And he tried to deny it every time. But thank goodness that he starts to embrace it."

" _Good to know. This family is good for them. They are good kids._ "

"That they are… Anyways, so Friday?"

" _Yes. I'll meet you at the entrance and guide you to the doctor's room. Have a good night and keep an eye on Karma in the meanwhile for any worsening in condition._ _Call me if it does get worse._ "

"Obviously…" Aguri nodded and hung up, letting the hand holding the phone fall and dangle next to her, turning her head to side and closing her eyes. She was so tired and strung thin. She checked up on Karma earlier and he seemed fine, sleeping peacefully and breathing normally. Nagisa had wormed his way to the redhead's stomach and curled there, sleeping like a baby. It was such an adorable scene she had to snap a picture of it. She smiled and raised her hand, opening the picture app and looking at the unusual image.

She doesn't know when it happened, but it seems that the two are finally warming up to the notion of being brothers and her heart swelled happily at her future family. Then she scrolled to the left and chuckled; she had taken this picture a few nights ago when she went to their room after the trio fell asleep on the bed. Karma and Kaede flocked Nagisa on either side and they seemed very content.

Her adorable siblings. Her family.

She has a family.

She took a shaky breath, smiling warmly as tears fell down. She is not alone anymore.

She is not alone.

She will protect them. She will protect this.

Nothing would take her family away from her if she has any say in it.

She closed her eyes, thanking whomever up there for this gift.

_Thank you for bringing me those three, Kami._

**_You're welcome._ **

Her eyes snapped open and she straightened up, looking around her frantically, but there was nothing in the room. After a moment she blinked and huffed out a chuckle, resting her forehead on her open palm. She had merely exhausted herself, that's why she was hearing noises.

Well, time to sleep, she thought as she stood up and set away the papers, then started stretching. She yawned and fell on her bed, pulling up her blanket and closing her eyes.

"Aguri-nee?" Her eyes opened and she saw Kaede stare at her with big eyes but with a small smile, standing next to the bed. Aguri smiled warmly and raised the blanket in invitation.

"I really ought to buy a new bed for you," She mused as the greenette settled on the bed. Kaede chuckled.

"Maybe… but I don't mind," She confessed and went to sleep, falling asleep almost immediately. Aguri smiled warmly and closed her eyes, dozing off as well.

* * *

Karma was looking better the next day, more aware and less in pain, the girls noted in relief. Aguri took off the bandages and cleaned the bruises and cuts meticulously, ignoring Karma's eye rolling and gripes on how he can clean himself. She only flicked him on the forehead and returned to redressing the wounds.

"Seriously, I had worse… though I used to heal from them as easily as taking out a thorn," He grumbled from his seat by the dining table with the girls sniggering and Nagisa ignoring him in favor of eating.

"Well, I don't want any of those cuts to get infected and then have you sit at home for a week with fever," Aguri replied fondly and Karma blinked and furrowed his brows in confusion.

"Injuries can make you sick? Humans are so strange…" He mumbled and Aguri shrugged and patted his arm gently.

"Alright, set to go. Finish eating your breakfast and we should set out in about half an hour."

"I would have finished already if some nagging woman would have left me alone." Kaede burst out laughing and Aguri's cheeks colored with embarrassment.

"Well, remember that this nagging woman is the one who provides you with good food," She grumbled and Kaede patted her back while trying to muffle her giggles. Karma smirked in amusement and picked up his fork, resuming eating.

"Seriously, it feels like you're making fun of me now…" Aguri mumbled to herself and then turned to the still eating blunet, "What do you think, Nagisa?"

Nagisa blinked and looked up, locked eyes with her for a moment before smiling softly and returning to his plate. Aguri buried her face in her hands to the sound of the other two's laughter.

"Don't try to go to limbless for comfort, he has no idea what's going on!"

"You three are traitors!" Aguri exclaimed in a halfhearted annoyance. "I feel betrayed!"

Silence followed. Aguri immediately looked up in alarm and her eyes widened at Karma's pale face, Kaede's blown wide eyes and Nagisa's darkening expression.

"What's wrong? What did I say?" Aguri right away got up and circled the table so she stood between Karma and Kaede, "Guys?"

"I'm not a traitor…" Karma growled. Kaede clasped hands over her mouth as her shoulders shook. "I did not betray anyone." Nagisa looked down.

"Of course you are not. I was just joking. Please talk to me; who said you are traitors or betrayers?" Aguri was frantic, angry at herself for triggering traumatic memories in the three and yet wondering if what Yada's said about abandonment's issues are actually a result from being told that they are traitors and betrayers.

Stupid, stupid Aguri.

But it's not time for self-reflection. First get them out of their memories.

She clasped her hands loudly and embraced Kaede and Karma tightly, whispering into the embrace. "Everything is alright. You are with me and I'll never leave you no matter what happens. I don't think of you as anything else than my little adorable siblings. You are my family and you have done nothing but good for me. Please come back."

It took a moment, but then color returned to Karma's cheeks and Kaede's eyelids lowered and the two slumped against her. Aguri looked up and noticed Nagisa looking at her and beckoned him to come, a bit annoyed that her arms weren't longer so they could have hugged the boy from all the way here. But when he came, she grabbed him and pulled him into her embrace, murmuring the same things to the blunet.

"I'm so sorry for saying something so insensitive to you three. Even as a joke, betrayal is not something to make fun of."

Kaede and Karma just nodded while Nagisa simply sank into her embrace. The three of them were silent for a long, long while. It was so long, Aguri was starting to dread that she had pushed them too far and she won't be able to bring them back.

Her heart missed a beat and dread washed her. She was about to plead for forgiveness but then, Nagisa wrapped his arms around her frozen body and buried his face in her shoulder. Taking his action as a sign, Kaede imitated the blunet and buried her face into Aguri's other shoulder. Karma exhaled and leaned into her middle, stiff but slowly relaxing as Aguri's body relaxed. The woman sighed in relief and held them closer to her, not caring if her legs were bent in an awkward crouching that made her back and her legs burn nor the heaviness in her arms. She only cared about that she was holding the three and still had them with her.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so glad you're still with me. Please don't leave me…" She muttered. Kaede's breath hitched and the greenette whimpered. Karma nodded hesitantly. Nagisa didn't reply but his arms tightened around her.

Aguri smiled softly and lowered her head to the embrace. "Thank you. Thank you for staying… I'll make sure to engrave in your hearts that you are precious and should be cared for. I will try my best not to repeat my mistake, you have my word. No one will ever hurt you again."

She won't let anyone hurt those dear to her ever again. Not if she can help it.

* * *

"Do you need more time?" Aguri asked the trio half an hour later. After the three had calmed down, they had released her and sat back down with Karma pouring water to three glasses and offering the other two silently. Kaede took the drink gratefully while Karma had to dangle the cup in front of Nagisa for a few more seconds, a frown marring the former's face when the blunet finally took the cup.

"No, I think we're fine. It was a stupid mistake. We overreacted. End of story," Karma shook his head, messaging the bridge of his nose, "Seriously, this is getting a bit ridiculous. Are humans that emotionally fragile?"

Aguri cracked a smile. "Yeah, a bit. But the human brain is pretty resilient when needed."

"Huh…"

"We… go?" Nagisa piped in, turning the two's heads to him, "Ss…gino… see…"

"Oh, someone wants to see their little pet?" Karma teased, but his tone was a bit forced. Despite that, Aguri chuckled, understanding the need to return to normal. Kaede lowered her cup and giggled. "Oh, don't pretend that it doesn't annoy you that Nagisa prefers Sugino."

Karma rolled eyes. "At this point, I am just ignoring you. You're lucky I don't prank people in this house."

Kaede's smile turned a bit more genuine at that and she stood up, going to Nagisa and pulling him towards the door. "Shall we go to school?"

"Alright," Aguri smiled warmly and begun walking towards the duo with Karma in toe, stopping only to lock the door. Karma continued ahead and she turned around to see Kaede still hugging Nagisa's arm while shooting some comments to Karma, who smirked and started poking the blunet's face, evading Nagisa's protests. She smiled and adjusted her bag, her expression turning solemn as she recalled the atmosphere merely half an hour ago.

She had touched on something extremely touchy for the trio and she was suspecting more and more that the actual reason those three came to her life was for her to patch their loneliness, trauma, and fears. She was new to this kind of life but she will learn how to interact with them, how to address those issues, and how to make sure they heal best.

She wasn't looking forward to finding out how much they had been hurt, but she will push through if it's for her family.

She straightened herself and strode to the teens waiting for her by the car.

Everything will be better. She'll make certain of that.

* * *

The drive was filled with chatter though Aguri wasn't disillusioned enough to think that it meant that they are back to being their usual selves, but rather that they just wanted to forget this morning.

"Would you shut it? My head hurts just by hearing that accursed word again!" Karma finally snapped at Nagisa, who had been for the past five minutes trying to say Sugino's name properly. Blue eyes blinked and the addressed boy glared at the redhead, angry hisses slipping out of his mouth. Kaede was too busy laughing to help.

Aguri sighed. "Karma, don't snap at Nagisa. Nagisa, if you want, after we arrive, I can try to teach you the word so please try to be more considerate of Karma, alright?"

Nagisa blinked, confused. Karma groaned and if it wasn't for his injuries, he would bent down and buried his head in his arms so he wouldn't have to deal with the blunet's lack of social tact.

"Sss…ugino?" Nagisa tried again and Kaede nodded somewhat in relief. Perhaps she was also growing tired of hearing the word as well.

"Yes, you did it. Now please say something else, for example our names like before." The greenette encouraged the boy. Nagisa looked at her than at Karma and nodded, smiling softly.

"Ka…ede…" Kaede beamed happily, "A…geri…"

"Almost there. A- _Guuuu_ -ri."

"A…geeeuri?"

"Guuu."

"Geu." Kaede laughed. "Sss…toop!"

"Say Karma then."

"Ka…rema?" Karma sighed while Kaede laughed.

"Rrrrma."

"Rrsssma?"

"Why are we so set on having limbless talk?" Karma snapped and Kaede sniggered.

"Because Nagisa needs to communicate with people other than us," She explained, "And at some point we're going to go out of the house and the classroom. I don't want to only see those two places for the rest of my life here."

"Don't worry, you will," Aguri assured her, "I am making sure of that."

"How finding our nonexistent identities going anyways?" The redhead said amusingly.

Aguri rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Not good. Nothing to be found yet."

"I told you that you won't find anything."

"Well, a woman can try, no? Besides, I want to make sure nothing will hinder the process if you do possess an identity." She wanted to mention the check up on Thursday, but didn't know if it would be wise to do so this closely to nearly losing the three. At the end, she decided to push it to dinner, after making up a plan as of what to say to them.

Instead of that, she simply smiled and continued driving.

* * *

They had exited the car at the usual parking spot and begun advancing up the mountain, the trio seeming to slowly relax and enjoy the stroll as usual. Aguri thanked anyone up in heaven that the mountain always seemed to calm the three down but also wondered if it's calming them down because it's in the nature.

They were silent for a few minutes until a familiar voice called out "Nagisa!"

Blue eyes lit up and Nagisa's head snapped up just as the raven head rushed past him and stopped a few meters away from the blunet. Sugino bent over, regaining his breath for a second before turning to the boy and smiling a big toothy grin.

"Morning, Nagisa!"

"Mo…ning… Sgino," Nagisa smiled back, reaching where the other stood, tilting his head in confusion when Sugino's grin grew brighter and a fist was raised between them. Blue eyes blinked at the fist for a long moment then widened and Nagisa wrapped the fist with his hands and shook it.

Sugino laughed. "That wasn't a handshake, Nagisa. That's a fist bump."

He received a baffled gaze. "Wait, you don't know of it?" A nod. "Alright… it's basically a best friend greeting," Here Sugino straightened up and offered his fist again, "You make a fist and bump it with mine, alright?"

Nagisa looked at the teen's fist then at his hand, then clenched it and bumped it with Sugino's brows furrowing in concentration.

Sugino grinned widely and suddenly grabbed Nagisa's wrist, starting to drag him up the road and past Aguri, Karma and Kaede, who continued walking through their talk.

Only the latter two had noticed the clouded eyes of the raven head.

"I am so glad Nagisa had become such great friends with Sugino," Aguri said happily, elaborating to the two after a moment, "Sugino needed some cheering after losing all of his friends because of class E's prejudice."

"He probably doesn't know what he's dealing with," Karma shrugged, "A clueless snake that will bite his head off without warning."

"You're just not happy that Nagisa ignored you in favor of Sugino. Besides," Kaede continued just before Karma could snap at her, "I think Sugino knows more than he lets on. I just hope he doesn't draw the wrong conclusions."

The redhead stared at her for a long while before rolling his eyes and grinning. "Aren't everyone?"

Kaede smiled back. "Perhaps—"

"Kaede!" The two blinked and turned back just as a small body slammed into the greenette, nearly causing the girl to fall onto the ground. At first, Kaede was frantic until a familiar scent wafted by her nose and orange hair registered in her vision. She blinked and pushed Kurahashi away from her and ignoring Karma's laughter, smiled.

"Morning, Hinano! Please don't scare me like that!" Kaede exclaimed, letting Kurahashi embrace her again.

"Well, I think I had enough of public affection for the day," Karma announced and marched on, disregarding Aguri's calls to wait. Kaede laughed but then yelped when Kurahashi seemed to take note from Karma's actions and pulled her along as they ran up the mountain road.

That had left Aguri on her own on the road, but for some reason she hadn't minded that. She took a deep breath and begun strolling causally, listening to the chirping birds and the rustling leaves. The strong aroma of earth and vegetation filled her nostrils, and her eyes caught the sunlight that shone through the cracks in the trees and softly played on the road.

A sense of peace had descended on her. Her family-to-be were loved. She has the best class to teach. She was loved herself. Everything seemed right in her world.

Her phone rang unnoticed in her pocket.

* * *

It was only when she exited the woods when she noticed a vibration in her pants and scrambled around to fish out her phone, accepting the call the second she registered the number.

"Good morning, Yada. Sorry I didn't pick up earlier."

A long silence. Then, " _It's alright, Yukimura-sensei. But I have not called for small talk._ "

"What's wrong, Yada? Did anything go wrong with the search?" A big weight had settled in her abdomen. Please let it be something that can be fixed. Please let it be something that can be fixed…

" _The research still goes on. It's not about those three this time… it's about Rinka…_ "

Black eyes widened in shock as the next words were murmured through the receiver.

"No…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	21. A Lot of Worried People

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and... I HAVE FINISHED THE REWRITE! THAT'S IT! FROM NOW ON IT IS ALL ORIGINAL CONTENT (ASIDE FROM THE HOSPITAL SCENE I HAD WRITTEN RIGHT AFTER THE EARSURE TO STOP PANICKING)
> 
> i had started around three months ago after 'The Big Erasure' and i really am so happy finally to be able to stop worrying about the original writing. i don't know if the original is better or the rewrite, but i do feel that the rewrite is more completed and fleshed out so i really want to thank griewer for not giving up on me and for you guys for spurring me on. you guys are the best!
> 
> i love you all so much and hope that we continue this journey for a long time ^^
> 
> p.s. finally got my laptop back, but it's a pain in the ass *sobs* IT'S NOT WORKING PROPERLY! i had to send it to fixing again so mom's computer it is... *sulk*
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^

"What's wrong, Yada? Did anything go wrong with the search?" A big weight had settled in her abdomen. Please let it be something that can be fixed. Please let it be something that can be fixed…

" _The research still goes on. It's not about those three this time… it's about Rinka…_ "

Black eyes widened at the next sentence and the woman faltered on her feet, bracing herself on a nearby tree, her heart pounding in her ears.

"No…"

" _I'm sorry, Yukimura-sensei. Rinka is currently in the hospital._ "

"Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

" _I_ _would have, but I was just notified. Chiba was the one to notify us._ "

"What even happened to Hayami? All I know is that she—"

" _Shh… Don't say it out loud,_ " Yada interrupted and the older woman closed her mouth immediately, " _All I know is that she and her squad were tracking down this Yakuza guy and suddenly were ambushed. No one but Rinka survived and that was by the skin of her teeth._ "

"Oh god…"

" _Fortunately, the doctors said that she'll survive. The others are preparing to come and visit, with some of us who are part of the police or government acting as protection guard. They don't think she'll be attacked, but we can't be too sure._ "

"Then I'll come visit her as soon as possible."

" _You still have your class to teach and new siblings to take care of. She is still unconscious so it would be useless if you'll come see her now._ "

A moment of silence.

"… _How about after the DNA test, you'll go visit her? It's Wednesday so it's only two more days anyways._ "

"But I really feel that I need to be there. Chiba must be terrified and distrusting."

" _Yukimura-sensei, Chiba and Rinka knew what they were signing up to when they joined the force. Now stop being stubborn and don't worry. If Chiba requests for your presence I'll tell you._ "

"…Alright… I won't come," Aguri sighed, covering her face with one hand and noticing the tremors going through her body, "Please protect them."

" _I will. Until then, Yukimura-sensei, continue your day. Teach the children like usual. It won't do if they get anxious because you do,_ " An amused undertone begun leaking into Yada's voice and the older woman shook her head fondly, chuckling.

"I know that already, Yada. Really, who do you think handled your class for a long, long year?"

" _I seem to recall a woman who is very familiar to you, Yukimura-sensei. That's why I'm sure you can do it_."

"Always with the dry sarcasm. Anyways, I must go, the children must be very worried," Aguri sighed, "Thank you for telling me this. I will see you this Friday. Have a good day."

" _Good day, Sensei. Stay safe._ " The call ended. Aguri clutched the phone to her chest and gave herself a few moments to collect her thoughts. An unprepared cool breeze made her shiver and she glanced up to see the class building just right ahead. Longing suddenly overcoming her, she tucked her phone in her back and rushed forward, wanting to return to her class as soon as possible.

She has children counting on her after all. Worrying about Hayami can come later. She can't do anything for Hayami at this point but she can do something for her students.

She… she can't convince herself very well, can she?

* * *

The first to notice was Karma, obviously. The minute she had walked into the class, golden eyes sharply flashed and Aguri flinched when she felt the bafflement mixed with anger glare directed at her.

Why was Karma angry with her?

Nagisa noticed a moment later when she turned to smile at the class. His eyes glowed for a moment before the boy tilted his head in confusion and blinked at her as if trying to decipher something.

Was kind of amusing, to be honest.

With Kaede, it was her greeting that gave it away. The minute her mouth opened, Kaede stiffened and her eyes widened in worry, her mouth pursing in hesitation.

She was that transparent, huh? She doesn't know if that makes her feel better or not.

Well, at least no one else in the class seemed to sense that something was amiss so no more disapproving or concerned looks, just exasperated when she asked for yesterday's homework or concentration when she taught new kanji for 'working hard' and 'destroy' (Aguri winched when she read what those kanji meant. She wanted to change the schedule of the kanji the principal wanted her to teach, but there was no changing his mind and she still can't quite tell him about her… new additions. She shivered when she realized that she still hadn't reported on them to him… She is doomed…)

Yet, she dreaded lunch. She knew that the minute class will let up, the trio will run to her and demand answers and she wasn't sure she was ready. The knowledge that one of her students was badly injured was weighing heavily on her heart and despite Yada's advice, she really wanted to hop on her car and rush to the hospital.

But she has her current students to teach. She has to make sure that they don't think that she is abandoning them. Her smile turned rueful; there are a lot of abandoned children around her and she was thinking of running away? How cruel of her. Hayami is still asleep, so she won't even notice Aguri's absence, but the kids in the class would notice if she ran away. Her eyes hardened and her brows set in determination

She can wait two days.

* * *

"What's going on?" Was Karma's first question the minute the class was released to lunch break. Aguri sighed, stopping in the middle of putting her books in her bag, and smiled wearily. The redhead tensed, an action not gone unnoticed by the two others who arrived at the teacher's table.

The black haired woman switched her gaze between the three, then exhaled and lowered her head.

"I don't want to say it here. Come with me to the teacher's lounge." She closed her bag and picked it up, her heels sinking slightly into the old wooden boards as she hastily walked out of the room, the trio following her suit.

They circled the building and entered a second hall, stopping before a door with an old flaking plaque saying 'Teachers' Lounge Room'. Aguri took out a set of keys and opened up the door and opened it, a loud creaking noise penetrating the silence, revealing a big room with two tables and several chairs, all from the yellow-brown age-stained pine tree. A big window gave the room a slight reddish glow, making the atmosphere quite homey regardless of the obvious lack of care.

"This is… a pretty nice place," Kaede commented as they all stood at the entrance, shifting a bit awkwardly in her place. Nagisa looked around and then drifted to the tables, poking them while Karma folded his arms and stared at Aguri.

"So what's the deal, Aguri?" The woman bit her lip and rubbed a hand over her forehead, conceding to the question.

"I had received a phone call from Yada moments after you all continued to class."

"Did she have bad news about the search?"

"No, it wasn't about that… it was about Hayami."

"Who?" The collective question of Karma and Kaede made Nagisa look up, his hand freezing over the table's surface.

"Hayami Rinka. A former student of mine…" Aguri elaborated, face pale, "She is part of the police and her squad – a team – was attacked by assaulters with who knows what… She is at the hospital, and has yet to regain consciousness."

"Aguri-nee…" Kaede started, taking the few steps between her and the older woman and engulfing the woman in an embrace. Aguri blinked and her arms rose, curling around the greenette's back, burying her face in the small shoulder and squeezing her tightly.

"I don't want to lose anyone dear to me," Aguri's voice was soft and pained, filled with fear and hesitation. Suddenly the woman looked much, much older. Kaede's throat constricted as she held the woman and she squeezed her eyes shut when they burned, her fists clenching the shirt and wrinkling the fabric.

"But she'll survive, no?" Karma added his thoughts when he noticed the woman's shaking form. Aguri nodded, still burrowing into Kaede's shoulder. Karma then placed a hand on her black hair and ruffled it. "Then no one is leaving you anytime soon, so don't cry about it. Save it to when you truly lose someone."

"Karma…" Kaede eyed him, "Give her a moment. She is just stressed."

A different hand landed on Aguri's back and started rubbing it soothingly. Aguri smiled, knowing immediately whose hand it was.

Nagisa patted the woman's back, smiling when the woman raised her head and turned it to look at him. "'S kay… No ded…"

"No one is dead," Karma translated when Aguri didn't answer.

"Oh… thank you, Nagisa," She smiled and after giving one last squeeze to Kaede, she released her and smiled warmly at her, then at Karma and Nagisa. "Thank you, you three. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been here."

"Probably be bored," Karma grinned. Kaede giggled and Nagisa frowned, confused. Karma rolled his eyes and messed the blue hair, "Don't worry about it, squirt, your puny head won't get it."

Nagisa hissed at the redhead. "No sss…mall!"

"Surprised you understood what 'puny means', idiot," Karma sneered back, bending over in a mocking way with his hands in his pockets.

"Sssstop!" Nagisa's hiss turned guttural, "No taaii-me!"

"No time? No time for what?" Karma smirked. Nagisa bared his teeth, which looked suspiciously pointy.

"You two, stop it!" Kaede huffed, "This is not the time for your boy bickering."

"Oh, don't act like you're any better, greenie."

"Karma!"

"You three..." The trio froze and turned to the woman, slight guilty expressions on their faces. Aguri stared at them for a moment before smiling and taking a step towards them. They continued to stare at her quizzically until she grabbed their hands and held them in her hands, her head lowered, resting on the back of the hands.

"You guys are just..." She hesitated and then took a deep breath, "I just love you all so much." Sparkling black eyes rose up to meet with gold, hazel, and blue, "I am so blessed."

The three exchanged looks and then looked back to her. Kaede beamed, Karma grinned, and Nagisa smiled.

"We're also blessed."

"Nah, just ended up with the most tolerable group."

"Bele…sssed… Yesss…"

Each one of the four came back to class feeling lighter than before. No one commented, but class was noticeably more relaxed and enjoyable.

No one complained.

* * *

Sugino was looking over Nagisa with an odd expression on his face. Thankfully, the blunet was concentrating on something that Kaede was showing him so he didn't notice, but someone else did.

And it was apparent that they didn't like what they saw.

The raven head shivered when he felt a cold dread wash over him and turned his head to spot Karma glaring at him warily. He gulped and gave a shaky grin to the redhead, wondering what he had done to deserve such a cold glare. Aguri's voice starting the lecture dragged him out of his internal freaking out, and Sugino was more than happy to use that excuse to look away from his new best friend's brother. The freezing feeling went away, and he had released a breath he didn't realize he held. Karma can be quite scary sometimes, but it's actually pretty endearing how overprotective he is over his siblings; consciously or not.

"S…gino?" He jolted and noticed that he once again started staring at the blunet, and now he was discovered by the subject of his staring. He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Hi, Nagisa. Sorry, was thinking too hard."

"Oh… Kay…" Nagisa smiled softly and returned his attention to Kaede's, who eyed him a bit skeptically, but then just smiled sweetly and turned back to the desk, going back to explaining things to Nagisa.

Sugino pouted a bit, not liking all the distrust towards him.

Kanzaki glanced at him, then giggled to herself and poked the boy's shoulder. He looked at her and turned red, mortified that his crush had noticed his little accident.

"Y-yes, Kanzaki?"

"Are you still wondering over what Rio said yesterday? About not knowing a lot about Nagisa?" Light brown kind eyes crinkled warmly and Sugino felt a toll fall off his shoulders.

"Thanks, Kanzaki. I guess I was just over thinking things without noticing," He chuckled sheepishly, cheeks heating up in embarrassment. The girl either didn't notice or just decided not to comment on his action and simply smiled kindly and returned to her assignment. Sugino shook his head and lowered his head to the page in front of him, concentrating on the class, seeds of an idea growing in his brain.

He waited until the class was over and they were released for five minutes of break to extend his fingers and tug on Nagisa's hair, which was left loose today and therefore easier to reach for. Nagisa turned around and blinked at the raven head in confusion.

Sugino waved a bit, grinning. "So I had an idea."

"A… de..a?" Nagisa regarded him in interest and the raven teen nodded, motioning for the boy to lean closer. The blunet looked at Kaede, who watched them both for a second before getting up and walking over to Kurahashi. Nagisa immediately moved his chair and turned so his chest was pressed against the back of his chair and his eyes were comfortably facing Sugino.

"Yess?"

"So I was thinking," Sugino started, "Wanna come to my house today? I want to show you some stuff in my room."

"Yoor… Hose? What… Ho…use?"

Alright, something was up. Sugino barely held his jaw from falling and cleared his throat. "Uh… maybe you don't recognize the word since you lived in a shrine… um, it's a building, only one family lives there."

"Oh, Hoome!" Blue eyes sparkled and the blunet enthusiastically nodded, "Me… liive iiin on! Ageri ho…use…"

"I see…" Sugino looked over to the woman sitting in her place, sorting through papers and as if waiting for him to do so, black eyes rose up to meet with him and the teacher smiled warmly and she returned to her work. "Well, we should ask Yukimura-sensei for permission."

"What?" Sugino nearly facepalmed at Nagisa's question, his best friend was turning up to be so clueless. Was the boy really mentally challenged or was there something else there… something much darker then he could see? It didn't seem like Nagisa wasn't capable of learning, he only needed to be shown thing once for the blunet to grasp the meaning and even made connections by himself. He was observant and much smarter than seen at first glance.

So why didn't he know those things before coming to Aguri's house? Karma and Kaede had the same problem but in a lesser degree. No one in the class ever talked about those ticks out of respect for Yukimura-sensei. But Kurahashi, Maehara, Nakamura and himself had created this unwritten rule to teach the three as much without mentioning the reasons behind their lack of knowledge. They know that sooner or later that the three would tell them.

"Sgino…?" Nagisa's voice snapped him out of his stupor and he smiled thinly at the blunet, protectiveness swelling in his chest. He swore himself there and then that he would find out everything about Nagisa and if his suspicions have basis, he would protect his friend.

But first, time to ask Aguri.

* * *

She was screwed.

She had never thought of the possibility of this to happen. In hindsight, she really should have expected this. It was so obvious she almost wanted to bang her head against a wall; so much for a degree in psychology if she can't even predicts this.

And the worst part is? She can't say no unless she makes a very, _very_ good excuse why not and honestly? She has nothing to offer. Well, it's not like officers would approach two children in the middle of the street and ask for their ID, especially if they're under sixteen. And she will collect him later with her car, so it'll be less conspicuous that he is different.

Oh, for goodness' sake, why didn't she think of it earlier? Seriously, Aguri, what _is_ the matter with you? Ever since they came to your house, you have made more mistakes than usual. And not even your usual clumsiness, but serious grievous errors that could cost you your future family—

"Uh, Yukimura-sensei? Are you alright?" She jolted and her eyes refocused on her current dilemma.

Sugino and Nagisa were standing in front of her desk just as she was about to resume class with the former asking her if Nagisa can go to his house for the afternoon.

While that doesn't seem like much to freak out over. Just an innocent question really. There is a need to bring to a count the reasons for her hesitation.

Nagisa is a clueless child with the current mentality of a four years old toddler. By no means stupid, but too easy to impress and his speech is still severely wanting. What if Sugino's parents get suspicious and will start questioning either Nagisa or her and bring child support? What if they will get attacked like Karma was?

"Ageri? Iit..s 'kay…" Nagisa's hand landed on her arm and rubbed it like every time she was anxious and she relaxed.

Right, it's Nagisa. He isn't stupid. He knows why she doesn't want him to go and still wants to go so maybe she should trust his judgment?

"Sorry, Nagisa, I'm just a worried sister," She admitted and Sugino chuckled, shoulders drooping in relief and he flung an arm around Nagisa, grinning at her reassuringly.

"Don't worry about it, Yukimura-sensei! We won't climb any trees if you're so worried about it."

"Sugino… I'll trust you on that," She chuckled and ruffled the blue hair, "But seriously, keep him safe and out of trouble. I'll come pick him up at seven, alright? Now, if anything happens, call me right away. It doesn't matter how small the problem is."

Sugino quieted down at her request but then sobered and nodded seriously, and once again Aguri was struck by the knowledge that her students were smarter than the school gave credit for. She smiled in relief and sent them back to their seats and resumed class, hoping her heart would stop beating so fast in fear. She was sure she would be having a heart attack if those cases would continue.

Who knew raising a family could be so hard?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?
> 
> VERY IMPORTANT! I HAVE FOUND OUT ABOUT A FANART FOR ONE OF MY OTHER FICS 'THE SNAKE MOUND'! THE FIRST. EVER. FANART! AND IT'S AMAZING AND ADORABLE AND WHAT I WAS EXPECTING! YOU MUST CHECK IT OUT! I'M SO HAPPY I'M CRYING!
> 
> IT'S IN MY PROFILE SO GO CHECK IT OUT!


	22. At Sugino's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and... I HAVE FINISHED THE REWRITE! THAT'S IT! FROM NOW ON IT IS ALL ORIGINAL CONTENT (ASIDE FROM THE HOSPITAL SCENE I HAD WRITTEN RIGHT AFTER THE EARSURE TO STOP PANICKING)
> 
> i had started around three months ago after 'The Big Erasure' and i really am so happy finally to be able to stop worrying about the original writing. i don't know if the original is better or the rewrite, but i do feel that the rewrite is more completed and fleshed out so i really want to thank griewer for not giving up on me and for you guys for spurring me on. you guys are the best!
> 
> i love you all so much and hope that we continue this journey for a long time ^^
> 
> p.s. finally got my laptop back, but it's a pain in the ass *sobs* IT'S NOT WORKING PROPERLY! i had to send it to fixing again so mom's computer it is... *sulk*
> 
> edit: got my computer back. it's working. i can finally write normally again~ *sigh* but im so behind on schedule i barely made this in time. also my job is taking so much time i barely have the strength to sit down and write even when i finally have the means to *sob* i'm a failure as a writer!
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^

"Are you serious!?"

It was the end of the day and most of the students had left, save for the trio and Sugino, who was waiting outside for Nagisa. Kaede had wondered why Sugino and Nagisa had approached Aguri during break and Karma had commented that she liked sticking her nose into matters not concerning her. Kaede countered that with the tidbit that Aguri seemed agitated for some reason. The woman looked between them and relented, telling them about Nagisa and Sugino's plans; hence Kaede's reaction.

"Is there a problem?" Aguri asked.

"Nagisa can be attacked just like Karma was!" The greenette said frantically, not understanding Aguri's sudden change of opinion over the matter, "And didn't you want to wait until our identities are created to get us out of the house? Besides, Nagisa is—"

"Oh, just let the limbless do whatever he wants," Karma interrupted the rambling greenette. Kaede snapped around to stare at him incredulously. "Black head knows what awaits him if something happens to limbless. Odin knows how protective you and Aguri can be."

"Aren't you worried?" She snapped. He regarded her for a moment before shrugging.

"Not really. Besides, not my place to stop limbless. I get a feeling nothing will mess with him." ' _Because he's limbless_ ' was left unsaid but Kaede understood immediately what Karma was saying.

They need to venture out to the real world. They can't lock any of them inside the house forever. Worry only if there is a reason, not before that.

The greenette deflated and sighed, turning to Nagisa and giving him a tight hug. "Just keep yourself safe, alright?"

Nagisa looked up, and it almost felt as if he was rolling his eyes, and nodded. Aguri eyed the satisfied grin Karma had and shook her head; the prankster was such a bad influence on Nagisa.

"Well, we should head home and Sugino has been waiting for a while. So run along Nagisa and remember, I'm picking you at seven, alright?"

Nagisa nodded and ran out of the classroom, blue locks disappearing by the corner were the last thing they saw before they heard Sugino's excited cheering and Nagisa's yelp as he was no doubt being dragged away by the enthusiastic teen. The three were left in silence, a bit awkward yet calm silence.

"It's so weird not having Nagisa come home with us," Kaede admitted after a while. Aguri laughed and that made the silence break completely and the woman grilled the two with questions about the lessons as they made their way out of the building and down the mountain, hearing here and then Sugino's voice or the chirping of the birds and the rustling of the branches. The setting sun was coloring everything with red and orange, causing Karma to nearly merge with the background and Kaede's hair to be washed with red. it had a serene aura to it but Aguri was hit with uneasiness and felt extremely uncomfortable. She didn't know why she was feeling that way, but she didn't question it, just placed it away for the meanwhile; she was exhausted and she still has the hardest hurdle to overcome for the day - telling the two about the DNA test.

"For the one agreeing to the whole mess, you seem pretty stressed." She turned her head to Karma, blinking in confusion.

"Excuse me?"

"You are forgiven, though why apologize? Limbless can be quite careless," Karma had a shit-eating grin, "If black head proves his ability as a babysitter, you can start leaving limbless in his care more often, that way you won't have to deal with the idiot."

"Karma... I wonder sometimes if it would be smarter to get _all_ of you a babysitter," Aguri smiled back and the redhead whistled.

"Burn~ I'm impressed."

"Thank you. It appears you are having an influence on me despite my hardest attempts to remain unaffected," Aguri hid a smile behind her hand, but Karma's eyes glinted knowingly and he smirked as a response. She chuckled and took out her keys since they had just arrived at the parking lot where her car stood alone. For some reason, that made her a bit disappointed that she didn't have a fellow teacher to share this experience of teaching this class with. The students do need more diversity in their classes. She should talk about this with the principal the moment her new family gets their identities.

She managed to suppress a shiver from remembering that she would need to deal with the principal soon about adopting the three. She sure hopes he would be considerate enough about the matter. She immediately shook the thought away; her boss wasn't that cruel, just strict.

Yes, it would all work out alright. Small steps, Aguri. Small steps. First talk about the DNA test to the kids then worry about anything else.

She took a deep breath and glances briefly at Karma, who sat once again on her left at the front, and Kaede, who sat behind Karma's chair. "I… I have something I need to discuss with you two."

The two turned to her. She coughs, tensing nervously. "Of course, I would like for Nagisa to be here, but I have to relay the news before Friday so I'll fill him in when I pick him up later tonight."

"What is it, Aguri-nee? You're kind of worrying us."

"Well…" Suddenly she had an idea, "Do you recall the biology class a week ago about DNA?"

"The making-up of a human body, correct?" Karma eyed her warily.

"Yes, what's special about it is that it's unique to each human so when you try to identify a specific person, using DNA is the best way."

"…It's about finding our identities, isn't it?" Aguri tensed further but nodded hastily, "But it's in the human's blood system, how would you access that…" Two sets of eyes widened in realization, "Don't tell me…"

"We use a needle for that so it's as swift and painless as possible. I swear it's not painful at all, just a prick," Aguri said immediately, "But… but it's the best way to ensuring your identity… It's a sad excuse, I am aware of that…"

Karma narrowed his eyes at her, but something seemed to grab his attention and he turned back. Aguri glanced to where he was staring and her breath hitched.

Kaede was pale as a sheet, which betrayed her fear despite her calm expression, her hazel eyes swallowed by her pupils.

"Kaede?" She tore her eyes from the girl regretfully because she had to concentrate on driving. She really should have left it to dinner. Idiot, idiot Aguri!

"I-I'm sorry, Aguri-nee," Kaede's voice was soft, "I just don't like the idea of blood… But it's for making sure we can help Aguri-nee, so I will do it. It's just a prick after all, no? I won't actually see the blood, right?"

"Of course not!" Aguri bit her lip, "I wish it was different, but we are humans and blood define us."

"You're a living being, of course it would," Kaede murmured, looking down nonetheless, "When is it?"

"It's on Friday. We also are using this opportunity to check up on Karma's injuries then and go visit Hayami. Yada pulled many strings to let us do all of those things without records or payment so the doctor should be someone very good with their hands so…"

"We get it. Let's leave the worrying for Friday," Karma sighed and rested his head on his open palm, his elbow resting on the door indent and gazed out of the window, obviously in a very bad mood. Aguri winched at the cold shoulder treatment but didn't mention it since she probably deserved it. She had promised not to bring harm to them and yet that is what she is doing so they could be registered.

Sometimes being an adult sucked.

* * *

Sugino was grinning the entire walk, opting to drag Nagisa by the hand since the blunet stopped so many times to gaze at so many mundane objects. Though the raven haired teen had to chuckle when Nagisa stopped to look at a noodle shop cart, the blunet's stomach giving a soft growl.

"I would have bought you some noodles, but we're literally five minutes away from home and mom said she's making her special dish just for you," Sugino apologized to the scowling Nagisa, who was not happy being dragged away from the food. At that, Nagisa turned to the other teen and tilted his head.

"Me... hep?"

"Hep... you mean help?" Nagisa nodded. "I didn't know you cook... wait, you're the one making the o-bentos, I forget." Nagisa nodded again and smiled.

"Me cook. I caan cook! Ageri tod me!" Nagisa exclaimed, pouting.

"Well, I'll see if I can arrange something," Sugino smiled widely and took out his phone, "I'll text her right away."

**From: Tomohito**

**To: Mom**

**Hey, mom. Nagisa just asked if he can cook. Don't worry, he can cook. he's the one preparing the lunch boxes for his family and despite never trying them, I heard they're really good!**

"There, now we'll wait until she answers back," Sugino shrugged and Nagisa copied his action, "I can't wait until I'll show you my baseball posters and my comics! Oh, and of course we'll do our homework and all since I don't Yukimura-sensei to be mad at me." He kept rambling about stuff he would show Nagisa and how lucky he is to finally be able to show his favorite stuff to someone who would actually listen and not roll his eyes on every thing he'd say. Nagisa listened with rapt attention and he didn't even notice the streets slowly becoming emptier until Sugino stopped abruptly, causing the blunet to crash into him.

"Wha?" A hand was placed on his mouth and he froze, body tensing in alarm. He was about to throw the one holding him when he registered Sugino's frightened dark blue eyes and that he was the one to cover his mouth. He hummed loudly in question and Sugino turned to him.

"I'm so sorry, Nagisa," He released his mouth and started running, Nagisa being yanked forward, "I didn't think it would happen today. I made so sure to come later than usual. Why are they here?"

"Sgino?" Nagisa felt something clutch at his chest and he hissed at the unfamiliar pain. The addressed teen's clutch on his hand tightened and Nagisa winched at the pain.

"I'll... I'll explain at home. Just please run faster. I can't let them get you too." Now a metallic aroma mingled with the scents of mud and sweat entered Nagisa's nose and the hair on his nape rose. His eyes flashed as he looked back, noticing faint shadows appearing and disappearing between the streets. At the sense of danger, his teeth sharpened and his hands tingled. He suddenly felt the need to let go of Sugino's hand and run into the shadows, to taint them with red. His pupils turned to slits and his irises were changing colors—

Sugino stopped again and the rustling of keys were heard, jarring him out of his stupor. Eyes returned to their light blue color and pupils diluted, he turned to Sugino in confusion, yelping when he was yanked again and tensing when the gate was slammed shut and locked behind him. The raven head released a long breath and braced himself on his knees, panting heavily.

"Tomohito!" A high-pitched voice laced with worry gained Nagisa's attention and he looked up to see a woman slightly taller than his friend rushing barefooted towards them, her long similarly colored hair flying behind her in a low ponytail and her black eyes wide with fear and worry. She was wearing an apron over a simple pink t-shirt and knee-length brown skirt. Sugino breathed in relief and wiped the sweat on his face with his hand and stood up just as the woman crushed into him and swallowed him in a giant embrace.

"Oh, Tomohito, I was so worried when I heard the gate slam like that. That's what you do every time they run after you, aren't you? We should get the police involved or even just move to a different neighborhood. I can't stand the thought of you getting hurt."

"Mom, you're rambling," Sugino hugged the woman back for a moment and then laughed, patting her head, "You are getting new wrinkles again."

The woman sighed and released him, only now the deep wrinkles around her eyes and forehead registering in Nagisa's eyes. She frowned and ruffled Sugino's hair before noticing the blunet standing behind him and her black eyes lightened up. He blinked at her shifting mood and jumped when she grabbed her hand and cupped it with her hands.

"You are Nagisa, correct?" He nodded, baffled, "Oh, you are so cute! I'm so glad Sugino is finally bringing a friend to his house. I'm really sorry you had to go through this. Here, come inside and I just got the message from Tomohito that you cook so if you want, I am making some salmon filled with rice so I'll be happy with the help."

"Mom! You're blabbering again!" Sugino sighed and was about to grab Nagisa when he stilled. The woman was smiling sweetly at him as she pulled Nagisa to her arms, resting her head on his hair. "Uh... mom, just don't work him too hard... I'll be in my room," He clasped his hands in apology for Nagisa and dashed into the house. Nagisa blinked and looked up to the smiling woman.

"Hello..." He said at the end. The raven haired woman nodded and released him, leading him to the house, taking his shoes and putting them away and showing him the small cozy house.

"My name is Sugino Kino but just call me Kino or mom, alright?" Nagisa nodded, a bit abashed at her smile. "Alright, first let me get you something to hold your hair and then an apron and then we'll start cooking, okay? Sugino should be back down soon so don't worry about him," She added when she noticed the blunet sneaking glances at the stairs, "It's just that those teenagers have been pestering Sugino ever since he had gone into class E. I don't like my son being there as well, but I hate even more that he can't even live safely anymore..."

Nagisa listened to her, his eyes narrowing and flashing at the news. The picture of the shadows flashed before his eyes and his hands curled into fists, an unfamiliar burning emotion erupting in his chest and an extremely bitter taste filled his mouth. Kino looked at him and smiled sadly, tugging him into the kitchen and taking out a simple rubber band and pulling his hair to a low ponytail like hers. "I know you hate this, but there is nothing that we can do in the meanwhile. Unless they will physically harm Tomohito, we can't do anything."

Hate... so this is what he was feeling. He frowned, not liking this 'hate' thing.

How can he stop it...

* * *

Kino soon had Nagisa deep into cleaning the salmon and supervising the rice, running commentary about Sugino's ramblings.

"Oh, and he mentioned how you like climbing trees and I almost had to lock him in his room so he won't try something so dangerous. Seriously, I should have a talk with Yukimura-sensei. Well, at least she stopped you two. Maybe you picked that up from living in a shrine. Say, how was shrine life like?" Nagisa at one point just tuned her out since he didn't like noise while he was cooking. Aguri always remained silent when they worked at the kitchen, ruffling his hair or correcting him here and there. After a while he came to appreciate the tranquility, something about it stirring something in him. As if he was repeating a scene.

He blinked and opened the rice cooker, getting hit in the face by the steam and heat of cooked rice. After cooling his face, he took out the rice and mixed it with the vegetables and seasoning Kino had prepared. The woman then took the bowl and smeared the rice over a shiny silver colored foil, placing the salmon over the rice and closing the foil around it. Kino smiled at him and placed the whole thing inside an oven, closing it and straightening up.

"Well, that was really nice watching you cook. You are really talented for a newbie," She grinned gently, stretching a bit and then dusting her apron, "Now, Tomohito should have set the table at this point so do you want to go join him? I'll finish cleaning up around here."

Nagisa nodded and pulled off his apron and handed it to the woman, turning and exiting the kitchen. He entered the living room which consisted of a dark wooden table with a strange bright colored paper filled bowl lying on it, a bigger table for eating and several chairs around it. He looked around in awe at the simple yet seemingly glowing room, spotting Sugino sitting on one of the brown couches in the living room, snoring pretty loudly. He blinked and approached the boy, looking down to the peaceful face Sugino held, something about it making his chest loosen. He was about to shake the raven head awake when something hit his head and his vision was washed with a blue curtain... or was it hair...

_" **So it has been only a week since you came and already you had to watch something so sad...** " Piercing yellow and softness caressing him._

_A peaceful translucent face fading away._

_" **An end to a life... It's always painful to watch it happen...** "_

"Nagisa?" He jolted and looked to the source of the voice, finding Sugino's worried face closer than before as he had at one point seemed to move to sit by the napping boy. He blinked and lowered his head, his hand coming to clutch at his shirt, his chest aching for some reason. "Are you alright, Nagisa? You looked as if you were deep in thought."

"Me okay..." He mumbled, "Hurts..."

"What hurts? Did you sprain something while we ran?" Sugino gained a frantic tone and Nagisa shook his head, clutching his shirt tighter.

"Hurts... herre..." He pointed to his chest. Sugino's brows furrowed.

"Can you breathe normally?" Nagisa nodded. "When did it start?"

"Now... Can see... Tii...ime not now..." Nagisa bit his lip and hissed, clutching his head with both of his hands. Sugino cupped his hands and gently pulled them away, replacing the smaller hands with his own rubbing soothing circles into the boy's temples.

"Is it something that happens often?" Nagisa shook his head and his body gave a jerk in pain. "Is it triggered by something?" Nagisa shook his head but then reconsidered and nodded, hissing in pain at the movement.

Sugino was scared, even terrified by now. What was happening? Was this the reason why his friend was lacking in knowledge? Or the reason behind his lack of speech ability? Is it fatal? Dangerous? Should he call the ambulance or his mother? He was about to get up and shout for his mother when small yet surprisingly strong hands grabbed his shirt and the smaller face pressed against his chest, shoulders quivering as Nagisa rode out the pain. Sugino didn't know what to do, his hands hanging limply by his sides, eyes glued to the small form. After a long minute, he raised his arms and held Nagisa close to him, noticing how the shivering had decreased in their intensity.

"Nagisa?" He asked hesitantly. The blunet's breath hitched and he raised his head, strange looking eyes boring into Sugino's dark blue. The usually sharp and almost all-seeing eyes were unfocused and seemed to gaze somewhere far, far away from Sugino and his living room. Black brows furrowed and Sugino looked around for something to snap his friend out of his daydream, eyes landing on the table where a bowl with wrapped candy was sitting. He was about to look away when he remembered that his mother used to offer him wrapped candy when he had nightmares or when he even cried, which was rare. Granted, they weren't as bad as what Nagisa is probably going through, but… perhaps the same principle would work here... Well, better safe than sorry.

He reached for the bowl, fingers brushing against the wooden bowl and managing to slowly bring the bowl close enough so he could grab it and offer it to the blunet, who was still having that dazed expression.

"Nagisa? Would you like some candy?" Sugino slowly pried the small fingers off his shirt and placed a bright blue wrapped candy in the middle of the palm. Blue unfocused eyes blinked owlishly and slowly looked down. "Try it. It's sweet. You probably have headaches from low sugar and over sleeping. I gave you the blueberry one since it does seem to suit you. Don't swallow it since that would be pretty bad. Just leave it in your mouth, alright?" Sugino was aware that he was rambling again, but he was scared and he needed that faraway gaze to focus. He couldn't deal with seeing Nagisa so… out of reach.

It was as if Nagisa would fade away if he didn't do anything.

For what seemed to be an eternity, Nagisa didn't move. Sugino gulped nervously, praying that this would work. Then, the slender fingers curled and Nagisa's other hand that was still clutching the fabric relaxed and drew back, gingerly prying open the bright blue foil and taking out the small purplish blue ball. Sugino watched the ball rising and rising until Nagisa placed it in his mouth, only then letting himself relax slightly.

He smiled brightly. "So how is it? Sweet, right?"

The blunet rolled the candy in his mouth then frowned and spit out the ball into his hand. Sugino jolted at the action and then started laughing when he took notice of the other's wrinkled nose.

"Stoop! No Laagh!" Nagisa protested, as if the past five minutes had not occurred, accidentally striking Sugino at the head with the candy. The raven haired teen froze and started wiping his forehead furiously where the candy had struck, yelping when the spit-covered candy fell on his shirt, staining it with purplish-blue.

"Gross! Why did you do it Nagisa?" Sugino wailed as he finally managed to get the candy onto the table and stood up to look for a napkin, rubbing his forehead frantically with the back of his hand.

He was in the middle of slipping out a sheet of a napkin when a smothered giggle echoed in his ears. He turned back to see Nagisa's light blue eyes sparkling and the boy covering his mouth as sniggers slipped past his fingers. Sugino stared wide eyes, jaw falling open in stunned awe at the showcase of emotion from the blunet.

Nagisa looked at him then his eyes widened as more chuckles left his mouth, his body shaking with them. Sugino grinned at the bewildered boy and wiped his forehead and shirt before turning to his friend and making a 'constipated' expression. Nagisa, who was lowering his hands, jolted and gave a snort, slapping his hands over his mouth again.

"Why are you so worried about laughing? Laugh it off!" Sugino ruffled the blue hair and laughed heartily. Nagisa looked at him then closed his eyes and smiled brightly.

"Well, you two seem like you're having a good time." The two startled and whirled around to see Kino setting the steaming fish and rice on the dining table, gazing at them amusingly, "So much that my dear Tomohito didn't even set the table."

Sugino's face burst into color as he scrambled to get the tableware and this time Nagisa was laughing freely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	23. Bonus Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. I'M SORRY BUT EMERGENCY BONUS CHAPTER SINCE I WAS SO BUSY AND SO SCARCELY ON MY COMPUTER THAT I COULDN'T WRITE AND FINISH THE CHAPTER SINCE I AM ALSO VERY STRESSED OUT.
> 
> it's so weird not to have an overall plot to write with. i actually have to come up with ideas and plot and story and i am going insane since it has been such a long time since i had to do it last. i am now just going with the flow until the hospital chapter and hopefully won't go insane and start writing badly... *sob*
> 
> p.s. I have finished the pacifist run of tumblr a few days ago and now am too scared to start the genocide one. i really don't want to destroy and kill them. they're so precious to me... *sobs*
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^

_A week before Karma and Kaede came to school_

Aguri's eyes darkened when they fell on a colored patch of skin. She collected herself and smiled as usual, sadly used to the notion already.

"How did you sleep?" Not a 'how are you' since that would be pointless and both of them knew that. Her student replied positively, rubbing the probably bruised shoulder, looking away from her. She felt her chest go hollow again and she softly hummed in a comforting approach, trying to calm them both down.

"Do you want some disinfection cream? I have some in my bag." She picked up her bag and rummaged through it, taking out a white container and motioned for her student to come closer. They nodded and winched when she touched gingerly the cheek bruise. She smiled encouragingly, fighting back the need to engulf her student with an embrace and hide all of her class in the mountain, away from the principal's destructive system. It's not that she didn't understand his motives - and it was begrudgingly a good system - but they were children, already shaped by Japan's strict modern culture but still flexible enough to adjust to new systems. And children should never, ever, be harmed like that. Even if it's for education.

But maybe she was just clueless since she doesn't have children of her own like the principal said to her last time she disclosed her worries to him. She bit her lip at the memory and drew back, closing the cream container and standing up, comforting the student for a few more moments before telling them to run back to the classroom since they are starting soon.

They nodded and bowed swiftly to her before hoisting their bag on their unharmed shoulder and walking out, leaving the teacher to quietly contemplate about her life decisions.

Maybe she should have taken the job offer from _him_...

But she can't give up just yet. She managed to save her previous classes. She will do the same this year.

If only that fear wouldn't attack her every year...

* * *

_The day after_

_Already?_ Aguri couldn't help but think when she spotted two of the students rush up the mountain path, their hair dirtied, clothes in disarray and small nicks littering their arms and faces. She sighed and closed the door of the car behind her, rubbing the bridge of her nose and placing in her bag the first aid kit she bought yesterday since all of the equipment had been confiscated by the principal since he said that the main building's nurse needed some new materials urgently. She had clenched her hands so hard she had small crescents embedded in her palms, holding back the comment that her students needed the care as well, and even more than the main building sometimes with how badly they are being treated.

Anyways, back to the matter at hand.

She had called over the two when the first break had rolled around and brought them to her office, knowing full well how they didn't want their classmates to see or know what they had been through, despite knowing that everyone knew since everyone is going through the same thing. Pride is a big ailment after all. It's enough that they have to be in the worst class; the least that they can do is preserve their pride of being beaten up by kids their own age that they weren't allowed to stand up to.

And that was the worst of it. They couldn't raise a hand on the main building's students lest they want to find themselves expelled and without any hope for the future... the principal's words, not hers. She tried showing the children of past years that school does not define everything. Sadly, it defines a lot, but not everything fortunately. She had yet to be able to get through to this year's children.

But she will. With everything she have and everything she can do. She will make them proud of their achievements and future.

She just needs a moment...

* * *

_The day after Karma and Kaede arrived at class_

She never thought it would happen... She never thought that the two children from the three she had picked up, who seemed distrustful and curious at the same time, would...

Would actually cause so much change in one single day...

She watched as Kurahashi talked enthusiastically to Kaede and Rio, who was obviously bullied earlier despite her denial, took to Karma, bright smiles on their faces.

They looked so much happier than the first day of the term.

She smiled warmly and exited the class for the lunch, wondering if the three were the last push the class needed to overcome their grief and self-loathing.

* * *

_Two days after Nagisa arrived at class_

Sugino, Rio, Maehara and Kurahashi sat around a table in a fast food house, their dinners lying on the trays, ignored in favor of the conversation going around the four.

"So We weren't the only ones to notice, huh?" Rio starts the pseudo-meeting with an announcement, "And since we are the ones who actually do give a care about them, we should do something!"

"Nakamura, shouldn't we first discuss what is it that we noticed? Since there is a chance that each of us noticed something else."

"Sugino... I think it is pretty obvious that those three actually seem like they had literally fell off the sky and Yukimura-sensei is just offering them shelter as they learn how to be like humans," Nakamura grinned triumphantly. The rest of them sweatdropped and Maehara laughed.

"I never realized that your brain were so creative," He smiled widely, "But you know as well as we do that it probably is some boring story that they are really sensei's cousins. Although, they act so strangely for three shrine heirs

"Maybe their shrine is secluded. Deep in the mountains. Far away from any human contact~" Kurahashi said dreamily but none of the others seemed amused... well, Nakamura simply gave a shit-eating grin.

"I don't think that's the case, but what we do know is that those three needs guidance through humanity," Maehara declared dramatically. Sugino chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"More like helping a friend, Maehara. No need to show off to Karma," He shrugged, grinning at the orange haired teen's offended gasping. Kurahashi giggled and took a slurp from the newly remembered drink.

"Well, we do want to keep them away from the main campus' students." The others quieted down, recalling the bullying and the nightmare of being part of class E. "And... they seem like they had been through something like some of us did just before coming here."

"So you think they were bullied as well?" Nakamura inquired and she nodded, "Hinano, they don't know common knowledge, they are not distru...sting..."

"Now you realize my point?" Nakamura ran a hand through her hair and sighed sadly.

"So basically stay their friend and slowly make them open up about their pasts. Maybe we can fix them that way."

"I would say that I wish someone would try that for me when I remember that those three were doing exactly that."

"Well, so who's in favor of protecting and guiding the 'Anime Hair Trio', say 'Aye'."

"Who made up that name?" Kurahashi's eyes widened and she protested. Maehara snorted, covering his mouth with his hand in last attempt to seem collected.

"Takebayashi." He said at the end, "And we all agree on that."

"I hate you all..."

"Well, put it away since we all know your real feelings~" Maehara winked and the orange girl giggled but shook her head and put her hand in the middle, followed by Maehara's, then Nakamura and lastly Sugino's.

"Good luck, fellow adventurers, the grail will be ours at the end!" Nakamura exclaimed happily.

"YES!" They all called back.

* * *

Worth it.

They laughed the rest of the meeting as they sat outside, having being kicked out of the fast food chain shop.

At least they now felt happier than they had felt in a very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?
> 
> p.s. sorry, but i have been running on half tank all week and i'm extremely exhausted. so sorry if it's not good. something i whipped up to do something this week ^^


	24. Darkness Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P,S, THIS CHAPTER WAS NOT REVISED SO SORRY IN ADVANCE FOR ANY PROBLEMS. ALSO, I'M DEAD TIRED SO SORRY IN ADVANCE!
> 
> IMPORTANT! SO THERE IS THIS AMAZING STORY I HAVE BEEN READING AND IT'S SO UNDERAPPRECIATED IT'S INSULTING. IT'S AN UNDERTALE FIC AND IT'S CALLED 'THE GOLDEN QUICHE' YOU MUST READ THIS!
> 
> it's so weird not to have an overall plot to write with. i actually have to come up with ideas and plot and story and i am going insane since it has been such a long time since i had to do it last. i am now just going with the flow until the hospital chapter and hopefully won't go insane and start writing badly... *sob*
> 
> p.s. I have finished the pacifist run of tumblr a few days ago and now am too scared to start the genocide one. i really don't want to destroy and kill them. they're so precious to me... *sobs*
> 
> update: i said 'screw that' and started hard!mode pacifist run... and i keep dying... *sigh*
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^

"Why did you make such a face when you ate the candy?" Sugino asked when they finally sat down and begun digging into dinner. Nagisa looked up from his plate and scoffed.

"Not li…ike…" He admitted and made a face at the memory, "Blegh."

"So you don't like sweet stuff, huh..." Now that was kind of a surprise for him since Nagisa actually did seem like a person who enjoyed sweet stuff. That made him look at Nagisa with a new perspective. There were still many things he didn't know about Nagisa aside from the obvious elephant in the room - The three siblings' background - and he wasn't sure he was happy with it. He wanted to learn the mystery that was the anime color trio (dubbed as such by Takebayashi and adopted by Rio and Maehara much to his bemusement) that made him remember less the agony of being in class E and remember more of the joy of being around people that he loved.

He took a bite out of the fish. "This is really good, mom! Did you do something different this time?" He told his mother, who beamed at him and then ruffled Nagisa's hair, who had his hair retied by the exasperated raven head.

"Oh, Nagisa just showed me how he prepares his fish at home. I ought to call Yukimura-sensei and beg for cooking lessons from her if she managed to turn a newbie into such a success." His eyes widened when he realized that he was eating Nagisa's cooking instead of his mother's. It was really good. So Kaede's praises of Nagisa's cooking wasn't an exaggeration. He turned to Nagisa and beamed.

"This is amazing, Nagisa! You got to let me try your lunch next time." Nagisa shrugged, cheeks coloring as he returned to his food. Kino looked between the two of them and sighed happily.

"I wish your dad was here to see your friend. That way he wouldn't be so worried about you." Sugino choked and started coughing, trying to get the food stuck in his throat. Nagisa looked at him in confusion, rubbing the other's back while continuing to eat.

Sugino's head snapped up and he glared at his laughing mother. "Mom! You're acting as if Nagisa is my girlfriend or something!"

"Well, Your dad and I always told you we didn't care who you choose as long as they made you happy," Kino said between laughs, laughing even harder when Sugino turned beet red and protested against her words, "Tomohito, I was just kidding. Besides, he is way out of your league!"

"Don't bring my favorite sport into this!" Sugino exclaimed, burying his face in his hands as steam rose from his ears. Nagisa watched it all in growing interest, even trying to catch the steam in fascination. "And shouldn't you at least try and not pick favorites in front of your son?"

"Sorry, sorry," Kino chuckled, wiping her eyes in mirth, "But don't worry. You're my favorite son."

"I'm your _only_ son..." Sugino wasn't buying it. Kino chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"I love you very much, my only son." Sugino blushed and bashfully looked away, mumbling 'love you, too, but you're embarrassing' under his breath.

Nagisa stared at the mother and son with bewilderment etched in his face. That was something he had never seen before and despite somehow realizing that a mother and a son is different than siblings, there was something that they didn't have... it was so bizarre... yet so gentle...

"Nagisa, are you alright? Did I put too much spice?" Kino's gentle voice snapped him out of his musing and he blinked, only then noticing the bitter tang in his mouth and the sting in his eyes. He raised his hand and wiped his eyes. So he was crying…

He then shook his head and went back to eating, something dark curling in his stomach. He grimaced and clutched his abdomen, the table hiding his action from the two others. He ached for something but he didn't know what it was.

"Nagisa." A hand was placed on his shoulder and he looked up to see Sugino smiling brightly at him, "If you need anything, come to me! As your best friend, it's my duty to keep watch on you!"

Nagisa's eyes widened before the blunet smiled serenely and nodded enthusiastically, the dark feeling melting away.

* * *

"So this is my room!" Sugino had dragged Nagisa away from the table the minute he had placed his empty plate on the table, the raven haired teen ignoring his mother's yell for him to clean after himself. Nagisa looked at Kino, who sighed and waved at him with a smile as they disappeared up the stairs.

"What do you think?" Nagisa was nudged into the room as the other gestured around. It was a small room, with a smaller bed than Nagisa knew and was really… blue. Some huge frozen moments were hung around, featuring some strange white wearing people hitting a baseball like Sugino had shown him the other day. A closet with half of its contents spilled onto the floor. A desk filled with a mess of white papers and other tools. A window and a brown floor not-real-fur covering. Nagisa looked around, not used for a room of the bed filled with so much stuff.

Sugino chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry about the mess. I didn't have the chance to clean since I didn't think you would be coming today…"

"It'ss… okay.." Nagisa shrugged and sat on the bed, falling on it and curling, about to fall asleep when Sugino dragged him up to a sitting position.

"Whoa, whoa, Nagisa! Don't fall asleep on me! We only have two hours before Yukimura-sensei comes and I have so much to show you!" Nagisa was not happy about being taken away from his sleep but did manage to keep his eyes open when Sugino showed him an album of frozen moments of players and games the raven head had been to. Sugino told him stories about when he went to see the games and how his mother managed through one of her friends to get him a VIP ticket so he could meet the players. Nagisa smiled in interest throughout the story-telling, even looking around and spotting some lazy drawings and cards of the humans Sugino described. His sleepiness ebbed a bit but he was still extremely worn-out despite how much Sugino intrigued him. Though…

Sugino was a human he felt like he had never seen before—

"Say, Nagisa, if anything bad would happen to me, would you come to help me?" Sugino suddenly said, jolting Nagisa from his musing. The blunet blinked and looked at the raven head, tilting his own in confusion bordering on wonder.

Sugino pouted, looking away from the boy. "Don't look at me like that, Nagisa. I was wondering ever since the walk home today. You seemed… reluctant to ask me about it… I'm sorry for making you go through this by the way."

"Why… Sorry…? No… bad happen," Nagisa blinked in bewilderment. Sugino turned to meet Nagisa's curious blue eyes and lowered his head, then fell back so he was sprawled on the bed. Nagisa sat straight in alarm and inspected the raven head for something amiss, jumping when Sugino begun to laugh.

"Sgino?" Said boy huffed another laugh and covered his eyes with his arms.

"Sorry, sorry. I just… you sounded so confused and I was so worried that you hated me for putting you in danger. I should have known you won't understand. Seriously, do you even understand guilt?"

"Gilude?" Sugino laughed again.

"Oh, man, you're such an innocent child," Sugino hoisted himself up and swiveled around, grinning widely at the still confused blunet, "But you cheered me up, so I guess it's alright."

"Kay…" Nagisa tilted his head then smiled widely back, "Sgino… happy. Good."

Sugino smiled back. "So… we're good?" Nagisa stared. "Oh, you probably didn't understand. I meant, like, are you still my friend?"

"Yes!"

"Great! Well, I'll be counting on you, partner." None of them realized how true that statement would become in the near future…

* * *

"Nagisa! Yukimura-sensei is here to pick you up!" Kino's voice echoed to the second floor two hours later. Sugino and Nagisa were in the middle of playing a card game the former had taught the latter when they had heard the call.

"Oh, crap." Sugino exclaimed in disappointment, turning his head back to Nagisa in sadness. "I'm sorry about that, Nagisa. I wanted to play longer with you."

Nagisa smiled and patted the other's back. "It's kay. Cann… do 'gain."

"You still want to come?" Sugino's blue eyes brightened at Nagisa's nod and the teen stood up quickly, gathering all the cards and boards before dusting himself and leading Nagisa out of the room.

Aguri was standing in the living room, talking amicably with Kino as they entered the room. The teacher beamed at the two, approaching them swiftly and sweeping the blunet into a warm embrace.

"How was your stay, Nagisa?" She asked eagerly. Nagisa smiled shyly back.

"Fun… Sgino Show many… cards… to me." Aguri nodded and turned to Sugino in gratitude.

"Hope he wasn't too much of a hassle. Thank you for taking care of him for the day, Sugino." Said boy's cheeks flared up and he nodded.

"Of course, Yukimura-sensei! Nagisa isn't any hassle at all. He is a great friend… he even cooked…"

Kino thankfully saved the boy from any more embarrassment by stepping forward to ruffle the raven hair… and then grinned mischievously at the teacher so maybe not much saving… poor Sugino.

"Alright, Karma and Kaede are waiting at home and I need to begin preparing dinner, so we'll be heading out," Aguri said after a moment, thanking the mother and waving the Sugino family goodbye as she and Nagisa exited the house.

"Bye, Nagisa! See you tomorrow!" Sugino shouted from the door just as Nagisa buckled himself in the front left seat next to Aguri. Light blue eyes looked up and the boy waved goodbye to the two at the door step while the car slowly rolled away.

"So what did you cook?" Aguri said after they had settled onto the road. Nagisa became silent, watching the cars' harsh red and yellow lights pass by in flashes and the darkening sky. Black brows furrowed deeper when she noticed Nagisa's silence. Usually she wouldn't have thought too much of it since Nagisa _is_ a very quiet child. But ever since being introduced to Sugino, his had gained this… vibrating lightness to him that never let him be completely quiet. But now? Now it was completely silent and she was worried. He had seemed to enjoy the stay at his new friend's house so what could have happened to make him so subdued?

Did they touch a subject he wasn't ready to talk about yet? She was certain that Sugino-san was more tactful than this… perhaps she is jumping to conclusions too quickly. Nagisa is a very mysterious boy after all. It should be easier to just ask him.

So she turned her head a bit towards Nagisa and said softly, "Nagisa, is there something wrong? Something happened back at Sugino's house?"

He didn't answer. She sighed and drove the car into the nearest free parking spot she could find, parked the car and turned it off. Now with free hands, she used one of them to pat the blue hair, noting the black tie holding it back that she didn't recall using this morning. But it didn't matter now.

"Nagisa? Could you please talk to me? I want to know why you are so quiet."

Nagisa didn't look up but he raised his knees to his chest, hugging them closer with his arms, which seemed thinner in this position. She got even more worried.

But just before she could ask him again, he opened his mouth. "Ageri… Whai you not Karrma, Kaede, mai mom…?"

Her heart skipped a beat then swelled with affection and she smiled widely. "Well, I'm your big sister, so I can't be your mother. Of course, a mother and a big sister can have a lot in common, but I feel more like your sister than your mother. Now, why are you so sad by that? Was seeing Sugino-san so strange for you?"

Blank blue looked up to her. "Me have none… neverr have mom no sisterrr. Not know what not same… _she_ … not aiverr…"

She… not either? Did Nagisa have someone who was important to him that wasn't neither of those categories? Is… is he opening up to her?

"Who was 'she', Nagisa?" She pushed gently. She expected him to balk back and clam up, but was pleasantly surprised when they simply shrugged and smiled softly.

"Not you… Not human… naice to me… friend…"

"She was your friend? Does Sugino remind you of her?" He nodded. Well, that actually explains a lot; why he chose Sugino to be his friend and became so attached to him in such a short time. It was actually endearing yet bittersweet.

"Is she back at the place where you came from?" Now the boy recoiled and shook his head, not providing any more answers. The buzzing came back but it seemed almost… sad. He didn't look terrified, not offended, not anything else but… sad. And even a bit disappointed.

Did something happened between the two of them? Did she… passed away? She wanted to ask more, but since he won't answer her questions anymore, she could only guess from his cryptic answers.

Be patient, Aguri. All will be answered in time.

* * *

Aguri parked the car and turned off the engine, taking a moment to stretch and then rolled her head to face the blunet, smiling softly.

"Even if I can't be your mother, I hope I can be the best big sister you'll have," She admitted affectionately. Nagisa looked to her and his lips stretched up to a thin but honest smile. The woman nodded and engulfed him into a brief embrace and then slinked out of the car, followed by the boy as they both walked swiftly towards the house.

"Nagisa!" Kaede's excited voice echoed the moment Aguri opened the door, chuckling when green flashed by her and Nagisa squeaked as he was pulled into the girl's surprisingly strong arms and got dragged into the living, where Karma was overlooking them with a smirk and a book laid open on his knees.

"I wondered when black head would call us and beg to take limbless back," The redhead teased and grinned wider when he got the desired reaction – Nagisa's eyes narrowing and him hissing at the taller teen.

"Seriously, Karma," Aguri scolded him with a poke at the forehead, "Stop poking fun at your brother. Sugino enjoyed Nagisa's company very much and Sugino-san told me how much she liked his cooking."

"Did you bribe them?" Karma rolled his eyes and swatted her finger away, folding his arms behind his head cheekily, and not paying attention to Kaede talking and laughing about something with Nagisa who seemed annoyed with the redhead's dismissiveness attitude.

"Why should I?" Aguri chuckled, "He is a very good boy. If you want, you can start visiting Maehara or Nakamura's houses if you enjoy their company so much."

"Really? Soon you'll tell us you want us out of the house with how much you're pushing us out of it." Aguri's eyes flashed with panic and she sat down, shaking her head.

"Never. I just want you to have fun since I can see that you three have been through so much already and I don't want you to be sad. I want you to be children and relish in the life you have been given."

"Odin, you didn't have to get so alarmed," Karma cackled, making the older woman pout, "I was just messing with you. After Friday I'll think about it."

"Alright. It's your choice after all since it's your friends. Not mine."

"You really want to see us befriend people, huh?" Dull golden eyes flickered to her and she stopped in her tracks. He looked slightly suspicious and even… scared?

"Why are you afraid of befriending others?" She asked gently, circling the couch to sit next to the redhead. Noticing the tension, Kaede dragged Nagisa to the boys' room after a brief glance exchange with Karma. Nagisa frowned and looked at Karma, who smirked and waved at him. Nagisa wasn't convinced, but Kaede's tug was stronger than his curiosity.

Aguri waited until the boys' room closed and then placed her hands on her knees and leaned back, peering at Karma from the periphery of her sight. The teen's smirk fell and he sighed, slouching forward.

"So why?" She asked hesitantly.

Karma huffed. "Who knows? I just can't trust humans. Your species are too easily corrupt and quick to destroy. Why do I need a reason? Being a human really sucks…"

"Despite knowing that you are genuine, I get the feeling that you are not completely frank with me," Aguri frowned.

"Well, I am not 'frank' so it's hard to try and be him." Karma smirked despite not looking up and she chuckled, placing a hand on his red hair and ruffling it a bit.

"Well, when you decide to become 'frank', I'll listen alright? I don't want to push you until you become uncomfortable so take your time."

Karma finally eyed her and shrugged. "Well then… Good luck."

"Thank you." She beamed at him and he rolled his eyes, standing up and walking away, muttering something about 'not able to get to her anymore'. She giggled, knowing that it makes him more determined to make her frustrated.

How adorable.

Well, good luck. Time to show her siblings how much a teacher can take.

* * *

Only later that night did it occur to her that she had forgotten to tell Nagisa about the DNA test.

Oh, boy...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?
> 
> p.s. sorry, but i have been running on half tank all those weeks and i'm extremely exhausted. today was double frustration so i'm sorry about the quality in advance...


	25. Karma, Don't Follow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER WAS NOT REVISED SO SORRY IN ADVANCE FOR ANY PROBLEMS. ALSO, I'M DEAD TIRED SO SORRY IN ADVANCE!
> 
> IMPORTANT! SO THERE IS THIS AMAZING STORY I HAVE BEEN READING AND IT'S SO UNDERAPPRECIATED IT'S INSULTING. IT'S AN UNDERTALE FIC AND IT'S CALLED 'THE GOLDEN QUICHE' YOU MUST READ THIS!
> 
> i'm really sorry for not updating for three weeks. to be honest, 'm so stressed out and busy that i can't concentrate and slowly lost the will to write. i'm having lapses of depression and anxiety and i am so exhausted. so despite not writing a lot. i'm going to publish what i did just so you'll have something.
> 
> also, no replies since i can't bring myself to answer questions now, i am terribly sorry and just know that i appreciate everything that you have done for me, you guys are the best.
> 
> big thanks to the one who helps me so greatly in this fic, Griewer!
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^

Karma was not having the best time of his life. True, he had worse. But he had been in much better situations before.

Well, it's only a trip down a memory lane, right?

At least he is conscious of it this time, huh… What a bummer…

He groaned and pushed himself up to his feet, opening his eyes and taking in the scenario playing in front of him.

He saw a figure which was bigger and intimidating than himself crouch before an Aguri-house sized snake head covered in turquoise scales with its two eyes threaded shut by a thick rope. Big ram horns curling from a mane of dark wine colored hair and a long nimble tail peaking from under a blood red cloak billowing over the nonexistent ground behind the figure. A golden tunic covered arm reached to pat the scaled nozzle.

A soft whimper echoed in his head and he bit his lip from screaming in frustration. He staggered to where the two were and looked to the horizon where he could see the other end of the giant reptile coming towards them and into the open mouth of it, long tendrils of bright gold blood dripping from the punctures the snake's sharp fangs created as they imbedded themselves into the soft flesh.

"…How dare they…?" A shaky voice came out of him and he nearly stopped in his tracks. He knew what was going on so why… why is he so surprised?

The other figure caressed the snake's bitten tail and murmured something, the blood disappearing and the punctures glowing with soothing red.

The voice whimpered in his head again.

" _It's okay, brother. I closed the worst of the injuries so the pain should be abated for the next decade, alright?_ "

Karma growled and approached the figure, wanting to punch the headlights out of the idiot daring to sound so optimistic. He raised his fist and screamed, launching his attack.

Only for it to stop to millimeters from the man's face. The figure turned to him and grimaced.

" _You really think it's going to make a difference?_ " Bright gold bore into dull gold.

He smirked and withdrew, knowing it was pointless. "Well, of course. I would be able to take out my anger on something and you seem like the perfect victim. How naïve and stupid you are. I really want to laugh at your antics."

Dark brows rose in interest but Karma didn't notice.

"You really think that healing him is going to make it all better? Jormungand is still going to suffer! He can't see! He can't even fucking _breath_ properly! He was born just to destroy the world because _he can't breathe_! What kind of a father creates a son just for the sake of torturing him? If he was a defect or useless then at least let him die in peace! I failed to protect him, no need to remind me of that."

" _Do you really think so?_ " Dull gold dilated and Karma gave a suspicious glance at the other one, who was now hovering over him, three heads taller than his teenager body. He growled.

"He's dead, jackass."

" _No, he's not._ "

"Brain dead is dead, Bloaty vein."

" _Your sense of humor really had grown… worryingly._ " Karma smirked. " _He's not aware, so he's not in pain anymore. You saved him, Karma._ "

"Now that just sounds like bullshit, and don't call me so familiarly."

The figure smiled knowingly. " _Why not? After all, I **am** you._ "

"Not anymore. You're too hopeful to be me…" Karma sighed and turned on his heel, willing the room to disappear into smoke and drag him back into the oblivious bliss.

Alas, that action had caused him to jerk awake.

He groaned and turned onto his side, eyelids heavy and the sense of fatigue weighing down his body. It must be the middle of the night. He had not slept enough and now he was probably going to spend the rest of the night tossing around.

Well, at least limbless sleeps through anything—

_SWISH!_

His body tensed and he snapped his eyes open, looking around for the source of the noise, his eyes locking onto a familiar figure swaying towards the door. His brows furrowed as he wondered what the blunet was doing outside the bed.

"Limb—" Nagisa leaned onto the door, arms hanging limply from his shoulders while his forehead was pressed to the door. Karma slapped a hand over his mouth, trying not to burst out laughing at the ridiculous scene.

"What is it with you? Are you sleep walking?" Karma finally released his mouth and sat up, eyes glowing in the dark with mischievousness.

The blunet didn't seem to hear him, hands rising to the handle of the door and pulling it open, slipping into the opening. Chill went down his spine and he immediately stood up, trailing behind the smaller boy, the dream rattling him more than he liked.

Now that he thought about it, limbless did seem very similar to Jormungand with the color scheme and them both being snakes. For a second he entertained the thought that maybe Nagisa _was_ Jormungand, but right away knew that there wasn't any connection between the two. Jormungand was always sad and wistful. Limbless was… empty. That was the main thing that pissed him off about the blunet. He was empty save for the times he grew angry. Lately, he started noticing a certain fuzziness to the aura surrounding limbless and the emptiness became less noticeable, but it was still there.

And now something else was coming out. Despite himself, he grew curious.

He really, _really_ hated this.

* * *

They reached the living room.

And the other was not stopping. He was walking drunkingly towards the door and Karma had half of a mind to just swoop over and drag the brat back, but curiosity won at the end and he just stood at the end of the hall, cloaked by the shadows and his eyes narrowed so his glowing orbs (sometimes having such bright color for eyes was not helping. At least when he was god, he could have camouflaged them... being a human sucks) won't be as obvious in the moon illuminated room.

Nagisa was standing on the platform at the entrance, head bowed down and hair hanging limply from his shoulders, revealing the back of his neck. His hands were tangled in the hair on his scalp, almost hiding himself.

A soft hum echoed in the corridor.

Karma's hands clutched and he looked around, trying to pinpoint the source until he realized that it was the limbless' voice and his eyes widened in shock.

This harmony...

Nagisa suddenly stepped forward, the humming growing stronger. His fingers rose from the hair, the nails looking sharper and longer than before.

A small hiss and the the blunet jumped to the door and yanked it open.

Or at least... tried to.

It was locked.

Karma released a breath he didn't know he was holding. He saw enough and his curiosity was sated. Time to bring the brat back before Aguri wakes up and gets a heart attack over their absence.

"Oi, limbless—" Nagisa swiveled around to him, eyes closed as if he was still sleeping, but his mouth was hung open in a hiss, teeth sharpened and a blue (or was it red? It was too dark to distinguish) undertone coating his cheeks.

The moon behind him gave him the image of death worming in.

Karma growled, preparing himself for a fight. He was already used at this point to the blunet's sudden outbursts of bloodlust, so he didn't question it. But it _is_ the first time it happened while the brat was sleeping...

What is he even dreaming about?

"Come on, brat, I am not in the mood to deal with you. So how about you wake up and I can go back to sleep?"

Nagisa lunged. Karma ducked and rolled away from the blue haired assaulter. He then grabbed a book and held it as if it was a weapon, using it to deflect a swipe of the sharp nails.

"Seriously? Snakes don't even _have_ talons. Why do you have them?" The redhead glared, cracking his fingers and smirking. Of course Nagisa didn't reply, but he did get his answer in the form of legs thrust towards him. He fell to the floor and jumped away from where Nagisa's body crumpled. "Oh, for Odin's sake, just wake up! It's too early for this."

Nagisa didn't answer but he rose and his eyes slowly opened, the moon reflecting off of blown wide pupils. Then he opened his mouth.

" ** _Moon... Night... They pray... She must destroy..._** "

The words were spoken clearly, without a hint of hesitation and dripping with despair.

"Okay, that's enough, Nagisa." Two hands appeared from the darkness behind the blunet, covering the nearly black eyes. The boy stiffened but then slowly fell backwards and into the awaiting arms of Kaede, who was smiling kindly at the speechless Karma from her position. "Can you help me please? He's quite heavy."

That snapped Karma from his incredulous state and he shook his head, rising to his feet and quickly coming over to them, taking the once again sleeping form of Nagisa to his arms. Kaede's smile fell.

"What happened there, Karma? I woke up to a loud crash and came to see Nagisa attacking you."

"Why did you cover his eyes?" Karma shot back.

Kaede seemed hesitant. "Well, I noticed a while back, but Nagisa has quite a disdain towards the moon. Whenever he sees it, he looks sadder. So when I came, I saw the moon reflecting from his body so I figured that seeing the moon irritates him. So I covered his eyes. Didn't think he was actually sleeping..." She bit her teeth, looking more terrified than she admitted.

Karma stared at her for a long time before sighing and hoisting Nagisa to his shoulder, beginning to walk back to the bedroom. "Well, we'll just have to ask him about it in the morning. In the meanwhile, go to sleep, Aguri is probably awake by now so don't scare her any more than needed."

"Goodnight to you too, Karma," Kaede nodded and strode to the other bedroom, "Call me if anything happens again."

"Yeah, yeah," He waved her off and closed the door behind him, frowning at the sleeping form of the blunet.

That was way too much drama for the middle of the night.

Hopefully he can sleep the rest of the night.

Hopefully.

* * *

The sewn eyes of his brother hunted him for the rest of the night, followed with limbless' broken words.

_He seems to hate the moon._

Does he? Or is limbless truly turning human?

Sometimes, he really hated his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?


	26. Time to Face Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. THIS CHAPTER WAS NOT REVISED SO SORRY IN ADVANCE FOR ANY PROBLEMS. ALSO, I'M DEAD TIRED SO SORRY IN ADVANCE!
> 
> and... this is why i don't take 'breaks'. the minute i let myself go and not force myself to write, my productivity drops to zero and my writing becomes so bad i want to cry. anyways... this part was actually written right after the bit erasure as a way for me not to crumble down completely so thank god i had it because if i didn't, you wouldn't have gotten this chapter...
> 
> don't own assassination classroom, matsui-sensei does
> 
> as always, please review and all this crap.
> 
> love you guys.
> 
> enjoy! ^^
> 
> warning: blood and panic attack.
> 
> \---
> 
> note: So I searched for hospitals in Tokyo that could give me the range of checkups that I wanted the three to undergo, but I just couldn't find any hospitals with genealogy so I just settled for pediatrics since they are teenagers now. Also since I don't know where kununigaoka is exactly, I searched for junior high schools and found the Mushashi junior and high school which is fifty minute ride from the hospital so I decided that they live nearby the school, so… I guess now we know where they live, huh? *chuckle nervously* I don't know anything about japan so please don't judge me too hard, okay?
> 
> On with the story!

Two days later Aguri, Nagisa, Karma, and Kaede stood in front of an enormous bright-white building that had the big words 'St. Luke's International Hospital' displayed over the front wall.

The fifty minute ride from Aguri's house to the place has been deadly quiet. Nagisa, for once, was watching the scenery as it buzzed by, oblivious to their destination since Aguri kept forgetting to tell him. At the end Karma just told her not to bother, that the blunet is too much of an airhead to actually care. Besides, he won't understand. That made Aguri feel slightly better; despite protesting that Nagisa _isn't_ stupid; but she was still worried for his reaction.

Maybe she should have told him.

Kaede was fiddling with a book she snatched from the shelf back home, trying to distract herself from what would soon transpire.

Karma was absentmindedly staring at the road disappearing under the wheels.

The only noises in the car had been the rumbling of the engine and Kaede flipping through the pages.

It has been more nerve-wrecking than Aguri had liked.

But now they had finally reached their destination.

Karma's and Kaede's eyes were wide as saucers, never witnessing such a strange building before. Karma even scowled and said something about unnatural colors with Kaede nodding along. Nagisa was simply staring at the floor, hand limply holding Kaede's hand, unnoticed by the two's antics.

"This is a hospital?" Kaede said in disbelief, rubbing Nagisa's hand with her thumb in an attempt to calm herself, "It's too big."

"Well, there are a lot of people who needs it," Aguri said reassuringly, "Come on, now. We are going to be late if we keep standing here."

"We're going to get lost, I can feel that," The greenette said under her breath, all previous (nonexistent) bravado gone, "Oh, heaven's sake, we're so doomed…"

"Whoa, relax greenie," Karma said in amusement, though the hunched shoulders told a different story, "Aguri knows the way."

"Yada said that she would meet us at the entrance so that after the checkup she will show us the way to Hayami's room," Said woman confirmed with a comforting tone.

"See? Nothing to worry about." Nagisa finally raised his eyes, only to glance between the three, noticing the tension. His hand hovered up on instinct, not knowing which one to comfort. At the end, Karma noticed his hesitation and rolled his eyes and grabbed the slim wrist, guiding it to Kaede's back. The girl startled and looked back to the softly smiling blunet and the smirking redhead, an exasperated expression coming onto her face.

"Seriously, I'm actually more concerned about you two terrorizing the doctor than the whole ordeal."

"Oh, I promise not to hurt him too much," Karma's smirk turned darker, the expression smoothing to neutral when a familiar voice called them over.

"Yukimura-sensei, over here!" Yada wore a much more casual clothing this time – a simple white button up, dark jeans and black flats. Hair in a high ponytail and a shoulder bag hanging by her side, light purple eyes wearier than last time. The two women embraced shortly and after exchanging short greetings with the trio, they set off.

The first halls they passed by were filled with children and parents – some were quiet and some played, cheerful as if nothing was amiss. They passed by two elders being wheeled in strange chairs with wheels by two similarly clothed people, chatting amiably with kind expressions. Nagisa froze and watched the old couple for a long moment with an odd gaze, snapping out of it when Karma dragged him onwards towards the group, which stopped before an unremarkable white door – as white as the other doors they passed before – and Yada raised her hand to knock on it.

Two knocks later, the door opened to reveal a balding man in his late fifties with a tight smile and tired black eyes. Yada bowed to the man in greeting and presented the group to him.

"So you're the three, huh?" The man said and led them inside, where they sat on joined seats before a bed hidden by a white curtain.

"Too much white…" Karma grumbled, to which Kaede chuckled nervously and Nagisa simply blinked. Yada stood by the seated group, three clipboards in her arms.

The doctor nodded at her.

"Yada-san, please take a seat, you're giving me a stiff neck." If anyone else would have said that, it would have been taken as a joke or an insult, but the dry tone held no humor, just a plain statement. Yada sat down, pen out and first clipboard ready.

"Karma, you're first," Yada said and the redhead stood up only to be stopped by two hands.

He turned to see fearful hazel and confused blue boring into his gold. The redhead rolled his eyes and flicked the greenete's forehead.

"Seriously, relax. He's not going to hurt me," He said to her, "Besides, if he does, Aguri will take us out right away and Yada will make sure to kick that guy's ass."

"Sadly, I do wish to keep working so please come sit on the bed, Karma-san." Once again, not sarcasm but a simple statement. Karma grimaced and plucked the hands off him and strode to the bed, sitting on it and giving the doctor a sly smile.

"I usually wait for after the ceremony to get in bed with someone," He joked. The doctor didn't seem amused and took out a strange device with one end splitting to two and the other ending in a big metallic circular thing.

"That's a stethoscope. You use it to hear someone's heartbeat," Aguri explained loudly and Karma's shoulders drooped in relief.

"Take off your shirt please." Karma opened his mouth but one encouraging look from Aguri and he went silent, quietly stripping his shirt and taking deep breaths as instructed, winching at the cold touches of the metal.

"No signs of irregular breathing or heartbeat," The man commented and took out a strap with a pipe ending in a small balloon, "I'm taking blood pressure now."

And that's when Karma knew that Aguri had lied to them.

It wasn't intolerable, per se, but it felt suffocating and he was honestly so done with all of this. He kept his growls to a zero, nonetheless, since he saw Nagisa's fingers twitch and his teeth open in a sneer and instead gave a big smirk and shrugged.

Next he was asked to stand on a podium which apparently measured his height and weight. Then he sat down again and bent his knee, which the man bumped weakly with a weak looking hammer. Seriously, it looked pathetic and he could already imagine his uncle growl in an enraged fashion about how they can disgrace such a beautiful weapon and turn it into such a ridiculous toy.

This whole deal made him feel more like cattle than a god or even a regular human.

He hated it.

"I'm going to take some blood now," The doctor said and Yada right away stepped forward and gave the man an empty vial.

"Oikawa-sensei, I need this filled for DNA registration." Dr. Oikawa gave her a hard look, but took the vial and brought out a tray with some more vials and… a very sharp looking thing. Kaede made a terrified squeak and Aguri asked Nagisa to accompany the girl outside until they'll call them. Nagisa looked slightly torn between glaring at the sharp object and obeying Aguri's request.

"Just go with her, idiot," Karma rolled his eyes. Nagisa growled at him but led the greenette outside, eyeing the sharp thing up until the door closed behind them.

Karma waited a minute before grinning and leaning forward, eyes hard.

"You know, Aguri, lying to your future siblings isn't a very nice thing," He commented , winching from having an elastic glove tied around his arm – damn it, it hurts! – and gloved fingers tapping on the inner side of his elbow.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't want to frighten you," Aguri looked in away in shame.

"But to be fair, many people don't regard this as 'painful'," Yada pitched in for Aguri, "But since it's not something you're familiar with, it can be frightening."

"No bulls—" Karma had to bite his lip to stop himself from lashing at Dr. Oikawa. His elbow was burning and the feeling of something inside of his body was revolting. He looked at the source of the pain and grimaced at the red substance going through the thin tube into the vial the man as holding. Soft hands were laid on his free hand and only then did he realize how hard he was clenching his fists; knuckles white and fingernails leaving deep indents in his palms which stung when he removed the fingernails.

This sucks… no pun intended.

"Done." The man placed a cotton blob on the puncture and swiftly took out the needle along with a bile inducing yanking feeling, taping the cotton with a tape and shooed the redhead up.

"Here," Aguri gave him a bar of chocolate and a water bottle, "You need some sugar and water after this. Call Kaede in, okay?"

"I'm not dealing with her trauma later," He grouched, teeth already sinking into the snack and slipping through the door. Aguri sighed and rubbed her eyes, apologizing to the doctor.

"I've seen adults react worse," He replied, "But you should sit by the girl since it'll be uncomfortable for her."

"Thank you," She thanked him just as an ashen faced Kaede stepped into the room, hands trembling even as she tried to keep a brave front.

"Don't worry, Kaede, I'll be here every step of the way," The woman promised the girl and with her soft prodding and encouragement, the greenette sat down and the doctor started the procedure (only this time the shirt was kept on).

Everything went smoothly until the blood drawing.

The minute Dr. Oikawa took out the new syringe, Kaede shrieked and jumped to her feet, rushing to hide behind Yada, body trembling like a leaf. Her fingers clawed at Yada's arm, almost drawing blood.

"Kaede?" Aguri went to Kaede and bent a bit so she would be eye-level with the girl, her palms coming up to the soft cheeks, "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry…" The greenette's eyes were blown open, pupils diluted and she was hyperventilating, "Don't hurt me. I didn't do a thing. I don't deserve this."

"Kaede? What are you talking abo—" Aguri was forced to step away when Yada nudged her and moved in front of the girl. Noticing the unseeing eyes.

"Kaede, you're not there. You're in the hospital with Yukimura-sensei and with me. Karma and Nagisa are outside, waiting to bolt inside if something happens to you. Whatever it is you're seeing is not reality, but a memory. You're safe. _Safe._ Repeat this after me, Kaede. _Safe._ "

"Safe?" Kaede echoed, latching onto the word like a lifeline, "Safe..."

"Exactly. Say it again."

"Safe... I'm... I'm safe..."

"Yes, exactly. You're safe. If you want, we can reschedule the test until you're more comfortable with it."

"Comfortable…" Kaede repeated, eyes drooping, "Safe…"

"Yes, safe."

"Safe..." Kaede repeated and after a long moment, she released Yada's arm and fell onto her knees, getting encased in the woman's arms. The girl took deep breath and whimpered.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, Kaede. Ride it out. Just remind yourself that you are safe and sound. Are you back with us, Kaede?" The girl looked up from the embrace to Aguri then to Yada and gave a small tentative nod, "Good. Now, do you want to try again later?"

Kaede looked over to the doctor, who took out a file and was currently reading, as if he couldn't care less. Somehow, that calmed her down completely and she agreed to try again, releasing Yada and letting Aguri hold her. She buried her face into Aguri's arms and zoned out by listening to the woman's plans for the upcoming exam, the older woman 'pleading' with her not to tell Karma since she doesn't want him to become smug on getting a perfect score. Her body tensed and shook when the needle was inserted but Aguri was there to hold her the entire time, increasing her enthusiastic jokes and stories.

And then it was over. Kaede slumped into the embrace, whimpering softly and clutching at her shirt. Aguri looked up in question to Yada, who seemed apprehensive. Then, the standing woman quickly wrote on a clipboard and turned it to the teacher.

'A chance of an act of violence in the past, causing her panic attacks from anything holding a threat or blood.'

Oh, no… this is worse than she thought. She slowly helped the girl up to her feet and out of the room.

* * *

Karma was standing just outside of the door, a murderous glint in his eyes in an intensity she had never seen. Before she could say anything, the redhead was upon her.

"I trusted you," He growled, a smothering aura surrounding him, "And this is how you betray us?"

"Karma, I betrayed no one," Aguri said tensely, squashing down the need to take a step back, "I never knew Kaede had such fear. We asked her if she wanted to reschedule, but she decided to continue. I was fully prepared for coming back later."

"Karma…" A small hand gripped the bristling redhead's sleeve and hazel eyes looked up, pupils still diluted from fear but her expression mellowing out. "Don't blame Aguri-nee. She only wants the best for us. I don't want to go through this again so I did it. It's over, it's okay, I'm safe," The greenette ranted, then caught herself and repeated her words. "I'm safe."

Karma sighed and slowly took the smaller form into his arms, Aguri's hold vanishing when he shot her a glare. She took a deep breath, "I'm sorry."

"Just… just don't lie to us again…" He looked away, herding the girl to a row of chairs and sat with her on his lap, the girl curled into a small ball. Aguri exhaled and looked over the two for a little while, trying to get her heart-rate back to normal.

Karma could be so intimidating sometimes.

She glanced at the two again, something bothering her.

...

Where was Nagisa!? She jolted and swiveled around to spot the now closed door. Did he already walk in? When? She immediately went to the door and opened it, seeing the blunet already approaching her, yawning. Yada was behind him, a hardened look in her eyes. "You didn't have to do it so quickly," She said when they reached the door, not noticing Aguri yet.

The blunet shrugged, seemingly unbothered by the blood stained cotton on his arm and the red marks on both arms from the glove tie. Aguri blinked and turned to her former student, not understanding.

"He just walked in after you left and offered his arm to the man with a small growl so Oikawa-sensei just did the test. Also, he barely has any visible veins so the doctor had to switch arms."

"Did he…?" Yada shook her head.

"He only seemed angry at Kaede's pain, but didn't seem to care much about his turn. He just sat there and looked… sleepily at the blood. But he reflexes are above average so nothing to worry about there."

"At least not too much troubles here…" Aguri counted her blessings though she was concerned for the blunet as well. Karma looked at the sleepy boy then back at her, calculations flashing so fast she could almost hear gears turning.

At the end he let out a bemused chuckle and leaned back. "Fine, you won. Limbless, we're sleeping here for a while."

"Kay…" Nagisa nodded and went to curl by the redhead, falling asleep immediately. Golden eyes followed the blunet's deep breaths for a long time before closing as well and he, too, fell asleep.

Aguri sighed in relief and dropped onto a chair, face in hands.

"We'll have the results in a week," Dr. Oikawa said to them before closing the door one last time, leaving them in silence.

Yada seemed to be contemplating something before sitting down next to the weary teacher. "Do you want me to elaborate on my theories?"

The teacher sighed into her hands. "I don't know. I already betrayed them once, I don't want to do it again."

"It's not betrayal. It's you trying to understand them better."

"But still—"

"No sensei, you need to understand," Yada pressed on, "You need to know what to avoid and what to teach, what to encourage – you taught us that! Knowing how they might act is what you did with us so you'll know how to help us."

Aguri stared at her for a long time until she heaved a sob and buried her face again, shoulders shaking. Yada, knowing that she won, took Karma's clipboard and started.

* * *

_"You..." He growled accusingly. Dull gold eyes, just like his, stared back. "How dare you…? I trusted you!"_

_" **You're a fool, thinking you can commit this act of treason without me acting upon it,** " The owner of the similar eyes said with authority booming in their voice, the unease rolling in waves from seeing the act of aggression._

_He snarled but ceased his struggles. "I did that to protect him! Your son birthed him out of spite and I'm the traitor?! He suffers there!"_

_" **He has a very important role—** "_

_"Important, my holy ass! Fine, exile me, disown me, kill me, do whatever you want! I can't look at you anymore. I can't believe I ever admired you. I pray you all burn in the world of Muspelheim and be eaten by His children for all eternity."_

_He glared – burning gold meeting dull gold. "Suffer for every second you've hurt him, grandfather."_

His eyes snapped open and he was about to bolt out of his seat when he registered the weight on his legs and chest and he took in the sight of Kaede sleeping in his arms and Nagisa curled by his side with his head on Kaede's knees. It was smothering and too warm, but just like that night, he couldn't bring himself to push them away. The dull ache from Aguri's lie and the puncture in his arm fading as contentment took over. He grinned genuinely and rested his head on the green head, his eyes closing… closing—

"Oh, Karma, you woke up." He blinked and looked up to the relieved teacher whose eyes were soft and mouth stretched in a soothing smile. He regarded her silently, going through everything she had ever said and did, judging her sincerity.

"I guess what I had done cannot be fixed." The smile fell and she seemed much older. "I wronged you, used your ignorance to calm you and myself. I know an apology won't be much of value, but I promise I'll try my best to be truthful with you from now on."

"And why should I give you a second chance?" Karma retorted and she barely flinched, just seemed sadder. That reaction apparently satisfied him since he interrupted her answer with his usual smirk. despite it being a bit forced. "Well, I guess we have some of the blame, too, so we'll just have to agree to learn from this experience."

"I see, thank you," Aguri beamed, grateful for him giving her the second chance, "I've learned from my mistake."

"Now that we've settled that," Karma leaned back and rolled his eyes at the two others, "Can you help me get them off? I can't breath," He said playfully and she laughed.

"Of course."

"Do you still want to visit Hayami?" Aguri asked the trio as they came out of bathroom and refreshment stop. Kaede nodded instantly, feeling much better than before and Karma shrugged.

Nagisa didn't answer, his eyes wandering to the corner of the aread they were in, zeroing on the same elderly from before passing them and being wheeled into the hall they came out of moments ago. There was that odd gaze again but this time it seemed more intense, not completely disappearing even when the redhead snapped his fingers before the blunet's face, making the boy blink and look up in question.

"You know it's rude to ignore your big sister?" Karma grinned a little too widely. Nagisa gave a slightly out of it nod. "Limbless?"

The blunet turned back to the hall for one moment before taking off. The redhead moved to grab the other's shoulder when he saw the odd glint. He froze and Nagisa slipped away.

Aguri noticed Nagisa running and immediately rushed towards them. Karma stepped before her and shook his head. "Karma, we need to get Nagisa!" She protested in panic and moved past him to follow the blunet. He grabbed her hand, making her turn back, her black eyes wide with worry, "What's going on—"

"He has something he needs to do, so leave him be," His voice held a finality to it. Aguri narrowed her eyes.

"He might get lost, Karma."

"He will find us, Aguri. He is a snake after all."

"Aguri-nee, it's those elderly couple," Kaede interrupted the fight, "Maybe he recognized them?"

"As what, visitors to the shrine?"

"Perhaps resembling more than actual visitors…" Karma folded his arms and mused, his gut telling him that Nagisa was hiding something. He never believed him to be a simple shrine freeloader despite his ongoing jokes… but then, what was he? The god itself? No, Nagisa didn't act like one. Maybe a familiar… that would make much more sense. He himself used to own many familiars before his… exile…

Damn it, the day was rattling him way too much. He needed to get a grip on himself before he exploded or worse.

* * *

Creaking. It's wheels. But smooth. Not wooden Wheels.

Echoing steps. Stone floor. Too smooth. Too cold. But still stone.

White. Too much white. Not natural. Walls white. Not natural. Light white. Not natural—

Blurring. Red. Red. Red.

Screaming.

Screeching.

Blurring. Brown. Blue. Blue...

Blue is good. Blue is _her_. Blue curtain... hair. Yellow orbs.

Good color.

Blurring. White again. Not natural. Real. Not strange flash.

Eyes itch. Not natural. Flashes. Not natural.

Must find.

Maybe have answer.

Why stuck like that. Like followers. Like _her._

A door. White. Room. White. Light. Hurts. Too bright. Needs dark. Not moon. Dark.

Something break white. Small moments on paper... _pIctures._

Shrine!

Female elder and male elder here. Must ask. Must find.

Approach.

Wait. Elder Can't see. Not real. Dead. No... _spirit._

Elders press paws... _hands_ together. Pray. Shrine. Must ask.

**_"Calm down, my dear friend."_ **

Blue. Red upturned crescent... _Smile._

**_"Listen here, little one. This is the prayer the villagers give when they need help from their god."_ **

Help. Elders need help. Must... must provide help.

**_"Save us!"_ **

**_"Kill them!"_ **

**_"Kill me..."_ **

Knees week. Can't stand. Snake again? No. Still human. Weak. Can't help. Sad. Was worthless. Not needed to happen. Death no needed. Too devoted.

Water splashing. Floor cold. Hard. Hurts. Too much. Needs dark. Needs quiet.

Wheels appearing.

Strange scratchy voice.

"Are you lost, young one?"

Surprise. Can see? Real? Female elder here. Something in hands. A hairy ball... _wool ball_. Two long stab weapons... _knit._

**_"This is 'knit' – the act of making clothes for loved ones."_ **

Eyes meet. Black eyes. No. Green. Strange. Should be black...

Oh.

Not elders.

Stare. Chest hurts. Can't breath. Inhale. Shake head. Apologize. Must go. Must get away.

It's not elders.

Not shrine.

Not... _her..._

* * *

 

"Oh, he's back," Aguri said in relief as Nagisa's form appeared from hallway, her exclaim dying on her lips at the sight of the empty look the boy's eyes held. She came to him and placed her hands on his shoulders, "What did you see, Nagisa? Why did you go off like that?"

"Limbless." Nagisa didn't acknowledge the redhead's call nor the woman's hands on his shoulders, eyes unseeing and face stripped of all emotion. Yada seemed to consider something then tapped Kaede's shoulder and whispered something to the girl's ear. Karma was bent backward as Kaede pulled him and mumbled something into his ear. He rolled his eyes; he knew that already.

But when he was released, he went to Nagisa and placed a hand on his hair, ruffling it a bit. "Oi, limbless, so they weren't the people you were looking for, big deal. I also thought that Okuda was someone from my world, but it didn't matter in the end since this is your home for now. Grieve only if you know that it's hopeless." He finished the small speech and turned to the two girls with an annoyed look that said 'I'm not dealing with this anymore'.

Kaede grinned 'yeah right'.

"Shut up," He mouthed and turned to the blunet. Nagisa didn't move, but his eyes brightened up a bit.

Aguri smiled in reassurance and hugged the boy. "You will always find a home in my place, okay?"

"… Kay…" Nagisa mumbled and now deeming it safe, Karma grabbed the boy's collar and dragged him to the opposite of the blunet's returning. The redhead noticed then the silence and turned to the girls, eyes blinking in an 'innocent' inquiry.

"What? Don't we have an ex-student waiting for us?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any thoughts?
> 
> p.s. noticed it was the first time i wrote something from Nagisa's POV so i hope i did it justice. enjoy ^^ sorry for the bad quality, though *shrug*
> 
> ALSO, FOR ANYONE WHO PLAYED UNDERTALE. I HAVE A BLOG CALLED 'SCARTALE-AN-UNDERTALE-AU' PLEASE SUPPORT ME THERE!

**Author's Note:**

> any thoughts?


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